HILLSBORO, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team capped off its 2014 regular season with three straight wins this past weekend, Oct. 24-25, at the Jefferson College Halloween Classic tournament in Hillsboro, Missouri, and will enter postseason play this weekend with a 23-12 record.
The 16th-ranked Grizzlies defeated Seward County Community College, Liberal, Kansas, 25-18, 27-25, 25-22 and Illinois Central College (ICC), East Peoria, 25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 25-15 Friday and finished the tournament Saturday with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-20 victory over Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College.
“It was a very good way to end the regular season,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “We went into the weekend knowing we were going to play three good teams, and they forced us to figure out a way to win in different circumstances.”
The Grizzlies learned an ugly win is still a good win against Seward. “We didn’t play our best against them. We weren’t smooth, and we weren’t talking a lot. We won ugly, is the best way to put it,” the coach said. “Seward is a good team, they just made too many errors.”
The Grizzlies also learned how to pull themselves out of a hole against ICC, the No. 3 ranked Division II junior college team in the nation. “ICC can play. Watching the way they handled Hutchinson in the last set of their match, we realized we were going to have to communicate better,” Wiedemann said.
But better communication didn’t come until midway through the second set of the Grizzlies’ own match against ICC. Down 22-13, the Grizzlies took a time out to try to regroup, which paid dividends with a little run once they returned to the court. The response forced ICC to take a time out, which allowed the Grizzlies to pull it together for good.
“We got through the first set, but then they got that huge lead on us in the second,” Widemann said. “After those two time outs, the girls really started talking to each other much better, and we just wore them down defensively. We were the only match ICC lost the entire weekend.”
Defense turned out to be the key in the Grizzlies’ win over Hutchinson Saturday. “We kept digging the ball and giving ourselves the opportunity to win transition points, and that really frustrated them,” the coach said.
“Defensively, we got better as the weekend went along, and that gave us the opportunity to do what we do best offensively,” she added. “Offensively, we took very good care of the ball.”
Tournament statistics show the Grizzlies were led offensively by freshman outside hitter Pulotu Manoa, who had a total of 40 kills on 83 attempts with 17 errors for an attacking percentage of .277. Freshman outside hitter Gabby Edmondson followed with 38 kills on 72 attempts with nine errors for an attacking percentage of .403. Freshman middle attacker Penny Liu recorded 32 kills on 61 attempts with seven errors for an attacking percentage of .410. As a team, the Grizzlies hit .354 for the tournament.
Freshman setter Susannah Kelley led the team in assists with 100, and she was second in service aces with three. The leader in that category was sophomore Alyssa Aldag, who recorded four.
Aldag led the team’s defensive efforts with 72 digs – an average of 7.2 digs per game. Redshirt freshman right side/middle attacker Ashley Bishton led the Grizzlies in blocks with six, including three solo blocks. Edmondson led the team in points earned with 44.
Riding a 13-game winning streak, the Grizzlies will enter this weekend’s Region 16 Championship Tournament in Hillsboro as the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of the semifinal match between No. 2 seed Jefferson College and No. 3 seed Mineral Area College of Park Hills, Missouri. The semifinal is set for 7 p.m. Friday and the championship at noon Saturday. If the Grizzlies win, they will host the District N contest Nov. 8 against the winner of the Region 15 (Maryland) and Region 20 (New York) playoff.
“The girls are working hard in practice. Their mind set is where it needs to be. They’re processing things on the court as they happen, they’re talking and making adjustments themselves, and that’s what they need to continue to do. What we do on our side of the court matters, and how we play together is the key,” Wiedemann said.
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit the team’s website. Complete team statistics can be found on the NJCAA’s Missouri State-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball page.