WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team picked up its first win in Region 16 play Tuesday evening, Sept. 13, when it defeated Mineral Area College (MAC) of Park Hills 25-20, 25-23, 26-24.
The victory gives the fifth-ranked Grizzlies an 8-3 record going into the Polk State College Tournament Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16 and 17, in Winter Haven, Florida. There, they will meet State College of Florida-Manatee and No. 6 Hillsborough Community College of Tampa, Florida, at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively, Friday. Saturday, they will face Miami-Dade College, Miami, Florida, at 10 a.m. and the host team, ranked third in the nation, at 3 p.m.
Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann was happy the Grizzlies picked up the win in three. “We’ve got six games in a seven-day stretch. I’m happy we made it through last night’s game the way we did. We are going to need a break after this,” she said, pointing out that, in addition to the MAC and Polk State tournament games, the Grizzlies will face No. 12 Jefferson College of Hillsboro, another Region 16 opponent, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Although the Grizzlies defeated MAC in straight sets, the game turned out to be a nail-biter, especially in the third set. Down 19-23, the Grizzlies had to dig deep and battle back to finally send the Cardinals home.
“We didn’t seem to have enough urgency, at first, to finish them off, and that could have come back to bite us,” Wiedemann said. “MAC plays very well, and we talked about MAC being a good team prior to the game. We can’t overlook teams like that because they have the ability to do some good things. Fortunately, when we needed to kick it in gear, we did.
“We did do some good things,” she added. “We dug the ball well, but we didn’t play great defense. There were times when we should have been putting pressure on them. We were trading points for a long time. The third set made for an exciting win, but I felt like we should have played with that kind of emotion and excitement earlier in the game.”
Sophomore libero Autumn Reese led the Grizzly defense with 18 digs. She was followed by freshman outside attacker Adriana Darthuy with 16 and freshman outside attacker Catja Weijzen with 10. Reese also led the team in service aces with two, while Darthuy led the team in passing rating with 2.60.
Offensively, the Grizzlies were led by Weijzen with 16 kills, followed by Darthuy and freshman middle attacker Rachel Holthous each with 11. Darthuy was most efficient with her attacks, recording an attacking percentage of .346. Sophomore setter Blanca Izquierdo led the team in assists with 44, and Weijzen led the team in points earned with 17.
A good crowd turned out for the game, and Wiedemann thanked those attending for their support, especially in the third set. “People really got into it. They were excited,” she said.
Wiedemann also thanked The Fish Shack and The Pizza Shack for sponsoring the game. “We couldn’t do what we do without their support,” she said.
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball team, visit its website.