SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – After two weeks on the road, the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team will host its 2014 season home opener at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the West Plains Civic Center arena.
The 12th-ranked Grizzlies, 4-4 on the season, will host the Indian Hills Community College Warriors from Ottumwa, Iowa. The match is being sponsored by The Fish Shack in West Plains.
“We’re excited about our first home match,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “Indian Hills is 5-0 coming in, having played in one tournament and one individual match so far this season. Traditionally, they’re a good team, and they’re going to be good. We’ll have to be ready for them.”
Prior to the match, which will have free admission, members of the Grizzly Booster Club will host their annual Fall Picnic at 5 p.m. in the civic center arena. All are invited to the free meal, which is being provided by Stacy Johnson of The Fish Shack, and to hear about the upcoming athletics seasons from volleyball head coach Paula Wiedemann, basketball head coach Yancey Walker and cheer team coach Keena Simpson.
The Grizzly Volleyball team will enter the match after posting a 2-2 record Friday and Saturday, Aug. 29 and 30, at the Salt Lake Community College Invitational in Salt Lake City, Utah. On Friday, the Grizzlies fell to No. 6 Western Wyoming Community College of Rock Springs 17-25, 25-21, 14-25, 21-25 but bounced back to defeat North Idaho College of Coeur d’Alene 25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18. Saturday, they lost to No. 2 Iowa Western Community College of Council Bluffs 21-25, 21-25, 11-25 before defeating Casper (Wyo.) College 25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 25-6.
“I think we played pretty well, for the most part,” Wiedemann said. “We played better as a team. Individually, we may have had a couple of players struggle a bit, but we improved defensively, which is what we wanted to see, and we had better, more sustained communication among the players on the court at times.”
Wiedemann said the Grizzlies didn’t play aggressively enough in their losses to Western Wyoming and Iowa Western. “We didn’t let them know we were in front of them. That’s a communication issue that can be corrected. When we let teams know we are there, we play great. When we don’t, that’s when things start to break down.
“Defensively, our blocking picked up. We blocked much better,” she added. “Whenever you’re blocking more, digging more balls per game and scoring more points off your block, you’re showing the kind of improvement you should at this stage of the season. We still have room to improve, but it’s good to see us move in the right direction.”
Statistically, the Grizzlies were led defensively by sophomore middle attacker Lee Lee Barrett, who had 15 blocks, eight of which were solos; and sophomore libero Alyssa Aldag, who had 96 digs for the tournament to average 6.4 per game. Offensively, the Grizzlies were led at the net by freshman outside attacker Penny Liu, who had 41 kills on 93 attempts with 13 errors for an attacking percentage of .301. Freshman setter Susannah Kelley led the team in assists with 77. Sophomore outside hitter Kaili Simmons and freshman outside hitter Gabby Edmondson each had three service aces. Barrett led the team in points earned with 42.
“We need to take lessons from each week, and I feel like we are doing that,” Wiedemann said. “The more we do, the quicker our improvement.”
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit the team’s website at http://wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/vb/. Complete team statistics can be found at http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/wvball/2014-15/div1/teams/MissouriStateUniversityWestPlains.