TYLER, Texas – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball started the 2016 campaign strong this past weekend, winning three of four matches against nationally ranked teams at the Ronda Shirley Classic hosted by Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas.
The Grizzlies, ranked 15th in the NJCAA Division I women’s volleyball preseason poll, fell to 14th ranked Panola College, Carthage, Texas, 24-26, 25-10, 26-28, 23-25 on Friday in their first match of the two-day event, but bounced back to defeat the No. 9 host team 27-29, 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10 later on Friday and No. 12 Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25-22, 25-17, 25-14 and No. 7 Blinn College, Brenham, Texas, 27-25, 25-7, 25-21 on Saturday.
“It was a good start for us. I was really impressed with our players in their first outing. Everyone contributed from top to bottom. The girls played for each other, and that was awesome to see,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said.
Wiedemann admitted nerves may have played a small factor in the team’s only loss during the weekend, but the main culprit was the Grizzlies’ inability to capitalize on their opportunities against Panola. “If we could have, it would have totally changed the dynamic of that match,” she said. “Losing three sets by two points can really affect you. You can go one direction or the other. But our players took what they didn’t do in that match and took advantage of their opportunities against Tyler, and that was huge.”
The Grizzlies also executed their game plan very well, keeping the ball away from Tyler’s impressive libero. “She’s a great player, and we didn’t want her to impact the game the way she can, especially in serve receive. Keeping Tyler out of system offensively as much as possible was a key piece of our strategy and made a big difference. We served very well and played solid defense, which gives you the ability to stay in points, and that gave us the advantage,” Wiedemann said.
In addition, the Grizzlies took valuable lessons from their first day and continued to improve against Salt Lake and Blinn. “The more we played the more we relied on how we played as a group, and it was great to see,” the coach said. “One thing we try to get our team to understand is it’s not about how well we play individually, it’s about how well we connect as a team. You can make up for someone not being on their game when the mindset is about the team. Everyone contributed at different times and in different ways so that resulted in straight set wins against Salt Lake and Blinn.”
In fact, as a team, the Grizzlies hit .413 against Salt Lake. “We were so efficient against Salt Lake. For three sets we had 44 kills and eight errors as a team,” Wiedemann said. “And, if you only look at the stat line in our game with Blinn it looks like our outside hitters struggled offensively but there is so much that isn’t on paper. Even though, on paper, the Grizzlies’ two outside hitters looked like they had a rough outing, there were a lot of things they did well that were not reflected in the stats.”
The coach pointed out the players contributed in many other ways that helped the Grizzlies earn the win. “A lot of their offensive swings put Blinn in a difficult position in transition, so the numbers really don’t reflect some of the things they were able to contribute,” Wiedemann said.
Another impressive note from the weekend was the fact that all of the sets the Grizzlies lost in the tournament were by 2 points. “The fact that we were not giving anyone a lot of room to make errors is impressive. To be able to put that kind of pressure on a team is huge. Whether we can maintain that, time will tell,” Wiedemann said.
Tournament statistics show the Grizzlies had a balanced attack at the net. They were led by redshirt freshman Rachel Holthaus with 40 kills on 79 attempts with 5 errors for an attacking percentage of .443. She was followed by freshman outside hitter Adriana Darthuy with 39 kills, freshman outside hitter Johonna Walkup with 33 kills, freshman outside hitter Catja Weijzen with 30 kills and freshman middle attacker Greer Rogers with 22 kills. “Both of our middles made an impact on how well we played throughout the weekend. The better they played, the more we improved,” Wiedemann said.
Sophomore setter Blanca Izquierdo led the team in assists with 171; Darthuy led the team in service aces with 5 and points earned with 45.5; Rogers led the team in blocking with 10, including six solo blocks; and sophomore libero Autumn Reese led the team in digs with 91. “Autumn settled in and had a very good weekend anchoring our defense. When she’s digging the ball like she did, it means we are clicking as a team defensively,” Wiedemann said.
The Grizzlies travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, this week for the Crystal “Inn”vitational Tournament hosted by Salt Lake Community College where they will meet three of the top five teams in the country – No. 1 College of Southern Idaho (CSI), Twin Falls; No. 2 Western Nebraska Community College, Scottsbluff; and No. 5 Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming. In addition, they will play North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene, which participated in the national tournament last year.
“It’s a different kind of volleyball out there,” Wiedemann said. “Every team you play you can expect a long, hard game where the team that can maintain a certain level of play has an advantage. We will need to continue to capitalize on opportunities and keep runs to a minimum.”
On Friday, the Grizzlies will face Western Nebraska at 10 a.m. and Northwest at 2 p.m. Saturday, they will play North Idaho at 11 a.m. and CSI at 1 p.m.
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit its website.