CASPER, Wyo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Women’s National Volleyball Championship Tournament today after defeating North Idaho College, Coeur D’Alene, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22, 27-29, 15-13.
The Grizzlies, 26-9 and seeded seventh in the event, will meet No. 2 seed Western Nebraska Community College (40-4), Scotts Bluff, at 6:30 p.m. local time today. The Cougars downed No. 15 seed Yavapai College (22-7), Prescott, Arizona, 25-13, 25-13, 25-13 in a match held at the same time as the Grizzlies’ contest. Area residents can watch tonight’s match by live streaming video at http://www.njcaatv.com/landing/index.
Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said 10th-seeded North Idaho was a tough team to match up against. “Their middle plays very smart, they’re a good blocking team, and their outside attackers are very athletic. I knew they’d create match-up issues for us, but our defense made the difference. We made good adjustments, and we gave ourselves additional opportunities to make plays. We knew we could take good swings if we gave ourselves a chance,” she said.
With the exception of the first set, the match proved to be a no-holds-barred battle, with neither team gaining more than a 4-point lead throughout the rest of the two-hour, 20-minute marathon contest. The Grizzlies maintained control through much of sets two, three and four, only relinquishing their leads twice briefly before the Cardinals battled them tooth and nail at the end of the fourth to take that set.
The battle continued into the fifth, with the Cardinals going up by 2 points twice before the Grizzlies claimed the lead for good on the final two points of the set with kills from sophomore outside hitter Pulotu Manoa and redshirt freshman outside hitter Stephanie Phillips.
Manoa and Phillips were two of four Grizzlies hitting in double figures for the contest. Manoa led the charge with 24 kills, followed by sophomore outside hitter Gabby Edmondson and sophomore middle attacker Zori Curry, both of whom had 14 kills. Phillips added 12. Both Curry and Phillips hit above .300 for the contest, with Curry hitting .345 and Phillips .308.
Freshman setter Blanca Izquierdo led the team in assists with 62, and Curry paced the Grizzlies at the net with five blocks. Four Grizzlies recorded double figures in digs – freshman libero Autumn Reese with 21, Edmondson 18, Manoa 16 and Izquierdo 12. Manoa earned the most points for the Grizzlies with 25.5.
The win keeps the Grizzlies in the hunt for the national title, propelling them into the championship bracket. The lowest they can now place in the three-day event is eighth.
For more information about the national tournament, including results, statistics and video replays of all of the matches, visit http://njcaacasper.net/. For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit the team’s website at http://wp.missouristate.edu/grizzly/vb/.