WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team will play its last home matches of the regular season this weekend in the Colton’s Steak House and Grill/Lazy W Pallets Grizzly Invitational Tournament in Joe Paul Evans Arena at the West Plains Civic Center.
In addition to the Grizzlies, the two-day event Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10 and 11, will feature sixth-ranked Miami-Dade College of Miami, Florida, 18th-ranked Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College, Colby (Kansas) Community College, Wallace State Community College of Hanceville, Alabama, and Jefferson College of Hillsboro, Missouri.
The Grizzlies will play Colby at 1 p.m. Friday and Hutchinson at 5 p.m. Friday. Saturday, they will face Wallace State at 5 p.m. and Miami at 7 p.m. Matches begin at 9 a.m. each day, with the last scheduled match at 7 p.m. All matches will be the best three-out-of-five sets to 25 points, with the deciding fifth set to 15 points.
“This is going to be an excellent tournament,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “Miami and Hutchinson have been in and out of the national rankings throughout the season. Colby is a solid team that has a shot of upsetting someone in their region, and Wallace State is always a competitive team. They’ll come in and do some good things.”
The Grizzlies will not face Jefferson, since the teams face each other in Region 16 play, and Hutchinson and Colby will not play each other in the tournament since they, too, are in the same region, Wiedemann said.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at Drago College Store, 411 W. Main St., or they can be purchased at the door.
The Grizzlies will enter the tournament with a 13-12 record after winning three of their four matches this past weekend at the Tyler Junior College Invitational in Tyler, Texas. On Friday, Oct. 3, the Grizzlies fell to New Mexico Military Institute of Roswell 25-16, 21-15, 25-16, 17-25, 12-15 before defeating No. 5 Western Nebraska Community College of Scotts Bluff 25-22, 21-25, 25-11, 20-25, 15-7. Saturday, Oct. 4, the Grizzlies picked up another win when Navarro College, Corsicana, Texas, forfeited the match due to a miscommunication of the match start time. The Grizzlies then defeated Western Texas College of Snyder 25-15, 25-11, 25-13 later that same day.
“Going into the weekend, we knew we needed to make a change,” Wiedemann said. “We knew we needed to do something to turn the corner, and I think we may have done that over the weekend. WE started to understand what was needed from each player. When that happens is when teams begin to connect.”
The Grizzlies seemed to put the pieces in place after the New Mexico match. “The biggest problem we’ve had this season is we don’t always communicate with each other like we should. This match prompted the girls to be more honest with each other. They really started putting themselves out there, and that made the difference. The feel from that match on, the way we played and the way we connected with each other, was very different. We felt like we were finally working on the same page,” Wiedemann said.
That new confidence in themselves and each other permeated their play for the rest of the tournament, especially against Western Texas. “We gave them zero room,” Wiedemann said. “We moved well, we played well. It was great to watch.”
Freshman middle attacker Penny Liu led the Grizzly charge throughout the weekend, recording 50 kills on 78 attempts with 11 errors for an attacking percentage of .500. “Penny took it to a different level against Western Texas. She had 17 kills off 18 attempts, which is phenomenal,” the coach said.
Freshman setter Susannah Kelley led the team in assists with 115, and freshman outside hitter Gabby Edmondson and sophomore setter Brianna Zebert each had five service aces. Defensively, the Grizzlies were paced by redshirt freshman right side/middle attacker Ashley Bishton who had 5.5 blocks and sophomore libero Alyssa Aldag, who recorded 46 digs. Liu led the team in points earned with 60.5
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.