Grizzlies drop two, fall to 1-3 on opening weekend

Sophomore outside hitter Dominique Davis had 17 kills in the Northern State match. FIle photo by Kyle Zarn.

OMAHA, Neb.— The Adams State College volleyball team suffered two losses Saturday as they finished the weekend at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Volleyball Showcase with a 1-3 mark.

Despite 17 Dominique Davis (Denver, Colo.) kills and 25 digs from AJ Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo.), the Grizzlies fell to Northern State (S.D.) in four sets (25-12, 25-22, 18-25, 25-18) in the afternoon and then dropped a 3-set match to Newman (Kan.) in the evening session as they fell to 1-3 on the young season.  The set scores of the latter match were 25-22, 25-19, 25-23.

In the afternoon match against the Wolves, the Grizzlies hit just .075 in the first two sets combined but rallied to hit at a .387 clip in the third as Davis put down six kills in that frame alone.

After watching a 19-18 second set slip away, the Grizzlies were down 4-0 in that third set but rallied to take a 10-7 lead with two Northern State hitting errors around a Mary McNeil (Phoenix, Ariz.) service ace.  They then saw their lead balloon to 13-8 and gradually pulled away from the Wolves, who answered back to claim the match with an identical 7-point fourth set win.

Freshman middle hitter Megan Tapia (Pueblo, Colo.) added eight kills on a .636 hitting effort while redshirt freshman middle Deprece Washington (Johnstown, Colo.) put down seven.

McNeil had 39 assists.

The Wolves, who went 3-1 over the weekend with wins over the host Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks and Chadron State, had three players with 10 or more kills, a group led by Amber Bloom who finished just a dig shy of a triple-double while hitting .667.  She had 15 kills, 16 assists and nine digs.  Megan Gilbraith also added a double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs.

Washington led the Grizzlies in the evening encounter recording a co-match-high nine kills against the Wichita-based Jets, who finished the weekend 2-2.  Outside hitters Dominique Davis (Denver, Colo.) and Tamara Fowler (Rio Rancho, N.M.) were just behind with eight and six kills, respectively, while Palmer dug up 11 Jet attacks.

Newman was led by nine kills from the hand of Karol Marins and a 32-assist, 10-dig double-double from setter Gabrille Loxterman, who also hit at a .833 clip thanks to five kills and just six attempts.   Allison Bailey also added seven kills while hitting .538.

The Grizzlies, who bested Northwest Missouri State in five sets before falling to nationally-ranked Minnesota-Duluth on Friday, will next take on 3-time reigning NCAA Division II National Champion Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) in their first match of the Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver next Friday.  The 3-1 Golden Bears, ranked first in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 Poll, saw what was a 75-match winning streak snapped Friday by unranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) but toppled No. 5 Central Missouri and No. 3 Tampa (Fla.) on Saturday.

The Grizzlies will also face now 3-0 West Florida, which won all three matches at the Comfort Inn-vitational that the Argos hosted in Pensacola, Fla., over the weekend, in pool play of the 2-day tournament that is co-hosted by Metro State and Regis, the location of at least the Grizzlies’ first two matches.

Related Item: Northern State (S.D.) Match Statistics
Related Item: Newman (Kan.) Match Statistics