CASPER, Wyo. – The dream of a national title will have to wait another year after the Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team fell to Western Nebraska Community College in the quarterfinal round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Women’s National Volleyball Championship Tournament Thursday evening in Casper, Wyoming.
The Grizzlies, 26-10 and seeded seventh in the three-day tournament, lost to the No. 2 seeded Cougars (41-4) of Scotts Bluff 19-25, 25-22, 20-25, 21-25. The Grizzlies will face No. 6 seed Polk State College (23-11), Winter Haven, Florida, at 3:30 p.m. local time today, Nov. 20. Polk State fell to No. 3 seed Northwest College (33-4), Powell, Wyoming, 25-21, 24-26, 21-25, 15-25 in a match held at the same time as the Grizzlies’ contest Thursday evening. Area residents can watch today’s match between the Grizzlies and Polk State by live streaming video online at http://www.njcaatv.com/landing/index.
The Grizzlies had their opportunities to defeat the Cougars, but errors at crucial times in the match kept them from getting the upper hand. “This was a winnable match in so many ways, but we had too many hitting errors, and we didn’t give ourselves a chance to continue through points the way we know how to do,” head coach Paula Wiedemann said.
The Grizzlies showed what they were capable of in the second set when they took an early 2-1 lead and maintained pressure on the Cougars throughout the rest of the game. Although the Cougars mounted a late charge after being down 20-15, the Grizzlies held on to take the set.
“I really felt after that second set we were developing a flow and a killer instinct, but we didn’t maintain it, and that was the difference,” Wiedemann said.
The Grizzlies kept the match close in the third set before falling behind late in the game and dropping the set, and in the fourth set, they came back from 8 points down to lose by only 4 points.
“We didn’t take care of the ball quite well enough. We tried to get too much out of each swing. We pushed a little bit to make things happen. We forced it, and that cost us,” the coach said.
Sophomore middle attacker Zori Curry paced the Grizzlies offensively, recording 16 kills. She was followed closely by sophomore outside attacker Pulotu Manoa with 15, sophomore outside attacker Gabby Edmondson 12 and redshirt freshman outside attacker Stephanie Phillips 11, according to statistics compiled by NJCAA officials. Freshman setter Blanca Izquierdo recorded 40 assists.
Defensively, Manoa led the team in digs with 14, followed by Izquierdo and freshman libero Autumn Reese each with 11. Sophomore middle attacker Ashley Bishton led the Grizzlies in blocks with 3.5, including two solo blocks. Reese led the team in service aces with two.
With Thursday night’s loss, the highest the Grizzlies can now place in the tournament is fifth. “We have two more matches. How we respond and what we do the next two days is important,” Wiedemann said, adding, “I just want them to play the way they know how to play, knowing they’ve left everything on the floor, no matter what the outcome.”
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit the team’s website at http://wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/vb/. For more information about the national tournament, visit http://njcaacasper.net/.