HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team won three of their four matches this past weekend at the Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragon Volleyball Classic in Hutchinson, Kansas.
They fell to the nation’s No. 1 junior college team, Iowa Western Community College of Council Bluffs, 16-25, 25-27, 17-25 Friday then defeated Seminole (Oklahoma) Community College 25-19, 25-15, 25-12 Friday and Frank Phillips College, Borger, Texas, 25-18, 25-16, 25-15 and New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, 25-16, 25-16, 25-14 on Saturday.
“I feel like we’re beginning to get into a flow, with our lineup and with our players taking responsibility for their roles,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “We hit over .300 as a team in both matches Saturday. We moved better, we took care of the ball better. I think the girls decided what type of team they wanted to be.”
Because of that, Wiedemann said it was a little frustrating facing Iowa Western’s Reivers first in the event, but added she was pleased to see the Grizzlies put into action the things they worked on in practice in the remaining three contests.
“We had several hitting errors and we didn’t play aggressively, and that really hurt us against Iowa Western. Then against Seminole, we were still frustrated with how we placed against Iowa Western, but as the match went on, we got better. It was nice to begin playing like we wanted to play and carry that into the next day,” the coach said.
“Frank Phillips can be a feisty group, but we jumped on them and stayed on them the entire match,” she added. “New Mexico had lost a five-set match earlier in the day, so when they got on the court, they were ready for us, but we didn’t give them any room. The girls did a great job of neutralizing what they did well.”
The Grizzlies saw good balance from their attackers during the tournament. Freshman middle attacker Penny Liu led the charge with 39 kills on 68 attempts with eight errors for an attacking percentage of .456. She was followed by freshman outside hitter Pulotu Manoa, who had 33 kills on 63 attempts with nine errors for an attacking percentage of .381. Freshman outside attacker Gabby Edmondson added 26 kills on 65 attempts with six errors for an attacking percentage of .308.
“Lotu has really come along. She’s doing a much better job,” Wiedemann said.
Liu also led the team in service aces with six and in points earned with 52.5. Freshman setter Susannah Kelley led the team in assists with 69, while sophomore setter Brianna Zebert recorded 50.
Defensively, Edmondson led the way with 8.5 blocks, including five solo blocks. Sophomore libero Alyssa Aldag led the team in digs with 65.
Wiedemann hopes the Grizzlies continue the progress they made in Hutchinson. “We just need to focus on what we’re doing, play the game the way we want to play it and take care of the ball then see what happens. When you play great teams, that’s what it’s all about. We need to continue trying to find that balance of aggressiveness and taking care of the ball,” she said.
The Grizzlies will host Kansas City, Kansas, Community College at 6 p.m. today in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center. Wiedemann expects a tough match against the fifth ranked Division II junior college team in the nation.
“They’re a good team. They’ve had some very good teams in the past. They will come in with something to prove, so we will need to take care of our side of the net,” Wiedemann said.
The match is being sponsored by Burton Creek Medical Complex and 63 Chicken.
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.