WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team will take a 20-12 record into this weekend’s Jefferson College Halloween Classic tournament in Hillsboro, Missouri.
The Grizzlies, ranked 16th in this week’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll, will face Seward County Community College, Liberal, Kansas, at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, and Illinois Central College (ICC), East Peoria, the No. 3 NJCAA Division II team in the nation, at 3 p.m. Friday. At noon Saturday, the Grizzlies will face Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College.
“Seward is always competitive, so we have to respect them and be ready to play,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “ICC is a top five team every year in DII, and they’re very well coached. They’re scrappy, they’re very efficient, and they will force us to play patiently unless we can overwhelm them. And, of course, Hutch is a dangerous team. They’re huge, and after losing to us in our tournament a couple of weeks ago, I’m sure we’re on their radar. Trying to get a win will be first and foremost in their minds, so we will need to be ready.”
The Grizzlies reached the 20 win mark Monday, Oct. 20, with an important road win against Kansas City Kansas Community College in Kansas City, Kansas. Wiedemann said she credits a strong defensive effort by the Grizzlies for the 25-13, 25-18, 25-19 victory.
“We dug the ball really well,” the coach said. “Our defense has been really frustrating people in the past few matches, which is really nice for a change. A month ago, we were the ones frustrated, but right now we’re making great adjustments on defense, talking to each other and figuring out what we need to do on the court. This was a match where we needed to get in and get out, and our defense helped us do that.”
Statistically, freshman middle attacker Penny Liu dominated the Blue Devils, recording 24 kills on 36 attempts with only one error for an attacking percentage of .639. “Penny was so on target all night. She was able to see the floor and make great swings on good angles,” Wiedemann said.
Liu was assisted on most of her kills by freshman setter Susannah Kelley, who led the team in assists with 34. “Susannah did a great job feeding Penny the ball and keeping her in the offense constantly,” the coach said.
Defensively, redshirt freshman right side/middle attacker Ashley Bishton led the team in blocks with three, all of which were solos, and sophomore libero Alyssa Aldag led the team in digs with 34 and passing rating with 2.75. Liu earned the most points for the night with 26.
“We neutralized two of their players who were very effective against us earlier this season, and they weren’t a factor this time. That’s what good defense does,” Wiedemann said.
This weekend’s tournament will finish the Grizzlies’ regular season schedule. They will enter the NJCAA Region 16 Championship Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of the Oct. 31 semifinal match between Mineral Area College, Park Hills, Missouri, and Jefferson College on Nov. 1 in the championship match at Jefferson College in Hillsboro.
“We’re in the postseason after this weekend, so rest is important,” Wiedemann said. “The way we need to approach our practice times next week is get in, get things done and get out.”
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.