Photo by Jeff Barrett
USU Eastern Press Release
With just a few days in the gym following their Iowa tournament, USU Eastern‘s 4th ranked women’s volleyball team traveled to Wyoming to take part in the Midway Tournament hosted by Central Wyoming Community College.
First up for the Lady Eagles was Colby College out of Kansas. Too many early errors by USU Eastern led to a 23-25 first set loss to the Trojans. Shaking off the nerves, the Lady Eagles came back and dominated the next two sets (25-12, 25-14), which set both teams up for an all-important fourth set battle. In the end, after a point-for-point showdown, the Lady Eagles were victorious, defeating Colby 3-1 in overtime with a 30-28 victory.
Outside hitter Sammy Perry led the scoring with another 17 kill performance followed close behind by right side hitter Alyssa Simmons with 15. Middle blocker Lindsey Otero not only added 11 kills but she also put up seven blocks against Colby. Setter Ashlee McUne had 36 assists and 20 digs and libero Emma Ricks led on defense with 29 digs in the game.
Later that evening, the Lady Eagles faced 8th ranked Western Nebraska for the second time in their early season. USU Eastern was ready to avenge its only loss from the prior week’s tournament against the Cougars and the team did just that with a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-12, 25-22, 25-20) led by outside hitter Baby Moleni with 16 kills and Sammy Perry with 14. Aces continue to be a powerful tool for the Lady Eagles with a total of seven in the game against the Cougars led by Perry with four. Ashlee McUne racked up another 33 assists and Emma Ricks had 24 digs.
The following day, USU Eastern began its day with a sweep of Casper College in which each member of the Lady Eagle squad took part in the dominating 3-0 win (25-18, 25-13, 25-18). Baby Moleni had 10 kills and three aces against the Thunderbirds while Sammy Perry added nine kills of her own, made possible by Ashlee McUne with 19 assists with setter Camber Dodson close behind with 17. Alyssa Simmons and Lindsey Otero defended the net with five blocks apiece and Emma Ricks protected the backcourt with 18 digs.
On their home court and in front of a rowdy crowd, tournament host (now #8) Central Wyoming, was the toughest competition of the weekend. The Rustlers upset #3 Snow College the evening before the matchup with USU Eastern.
The Lady Eagles came out swinging with 16 kills in the first set, helping them get the first set win 25-20. Trading point for point throughout the second set, the two teams battled it until the Rustlers gained a two-point advantage, which would eventually haunt the Lady Eagles after losing the close set by a score of 27-25. A quick start for USU Eastern in the third set led to two early timeouts for Central Wyoming and that momentum wouldn’t retreat as the Lady Eagles pulled out the win in the third set, 25-19.
Scoring only eight kills in the fourth led to disaster for the Lady Eagles, catapulting Central Wyoming into a fifth set showdown after a 25-14 fourth set defeat. The Lady Eagles once again dominated the fifth set early on, which forced another early timeout by the Rustlers. That timeout was enough to exchange the momentum and allowed Central Wyoming back into the game with an eventual final set victory with a score of 15-10.
Baby Moleni and Sammy Perry each put up 17 kills against the Rustlers. MB Lindsey Otero had six blocks and middle blocker Kamryn Wiese put up five of her own at the net. Ashlee McUne had 29 kills and Emma Ricks continues to dominate defensively with 30 kills.
“There were so many positives and so much progress that came out of this weekend and that is what we are focused on,” said head coach Danielle Jensen. “Although we would have loved to get the tournament sweep, I couldn’t be happier with their performance. The entire team stepped up to get the three wins; whether cheering from the bench or working together on the court. They got a good taste of what it requires to compete against top competition and that is huge for us going forward.”
With just a few days at home, the Lady Eagles (6-2) will travel to Prescott, Arizona where they take part in the Dalton Street Invitational. Four out of the five games played will be against top 20 teams, including #7 Florida Southwestern State (2-1), #12 Barton College (8-0), tournament host and 14th ranked Yavapai College (2-2), and receiving votes is Wallace State (9-1). They will begin the tournament in an evening matchup against Eastern Arizona on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. MST.
All games will be streamed LIVE on Facebook under the Utah State Eastern Athletics page.