Volleyball Team finishes Week 3-1 in Viterbo University Tournament
The Women’s volleyball team had a loaded week that included a conference matchup, a postponed game, and their first Volleyball Tournament of the season being the Viterbo University Tournament in Lacrosse Wisconsin.
Tuesday, Sep 5 V.S. St. Ambrose
The women started off their week competing against conference rival St. Ambrose University. The two teams went down to the wire going the full five sets. Unfortunately, it was St. Ambrose who came away with the 3 sets to 2 victory (scores of 28-26, 25-19, 23-25, 12-25, 15-12 respectively). Despite the loss, SXU should be proud of their efforts as they started off the matchup against St. Ambrose going down 2 sets. With their backs against the wall, SXU didn’t crumble as they stormed back and tied the matchup up at 2 sets apiece. This comeback came from stellar individual performances, starting off with junior Kate Bontrager who led the Cougars in kills with 14 in total.
Senior Courtney Joyce also had a good game totaling 43 assists as a setter. After the game, I had the chance to speak to junior Alex Lambros who had this to say, “We lost, but I’m so proud of the way we played in the end. If we keep it up this level of play there’s no doubt that we tally up some more wins”. Lambros isn’t lying. If they continue to play with the same level of heart and determination that they played with in the last 3 sets of this game, there’s no doubt in my time that this team can make some noise in the CCAC division.
Friday, Sep 8 V.S. Cornerstone University and University of Jamestown
First big tournament of the season and the Cougars start it out with 3 sets to 2 win over Cornerstone. The two teams went the distance, but the Cougars were out there putting in that work. One Cougar in particular by the name of Bridget Krasowski was killing the competition…figuratively. She had a season high 22 kills. This was huge game for the Cougars as Cornerstone University is a top ranked school in the nation, and SXU just beat them. Some may see this win as an upset, but I see it as the Cougars continuing to build on what has been a spectacular season so far.
In their second matchup of day 1, SXU competed against University of Jamestown who are currently ranked 23 in the nation. SXU, coming off a huge win, used all their momentum to beat out Jamestown 3 sets to 0. Unlike the game against Cornerstone, this matchup wasn’t nearly as competitive, and I’m sure it served as a nice breather for the Cougars before the end of day 1.
Saturday, Sep 9 Day 2 V.S. Viterbo University and Aquianas College
After starting off the tournament 2-0, upsetting Cornerstone University, wiping the floor with University of Jamestown, and getting a good night’s sleep along with a hearty breakfast, the Cougars were ready to conquer day 2 of the Viterbo University Tournament. The team started out going up against Aquianas College. The team continued to roll as they beat Aquianas 3 sets to 0. SXU accreted their dominance early wining the first set by a wide margin of 25 points to 11. Set 2 was won 25-18, followed by a 25-22 victory in set 3. Kate Brontrager, Alex Lambros, Bridget Krasowski, and Helena Atton all tallied up 9 kills combining for 36 kills all together. This level of play shows how the Cougars are totally locked in and aren’t taking any team for granted. After this came the big matchup, SXU vs. the number 2 ranked team and the host of the tournament Viterbro University.
The Cougars have already made magic happen once beating the number 10 ranked school, but can the make magic happen again? The answer is no. Viterbro wiped the floor with SXU for 3 straight sets. The first set, Viterbro embarrassed SXU winning by a margin of 25-9, then followed that up with a 25-10 win in set 2. After Viterbro looked like they were going to dominate again in set 3 leading 21-14, SXU went on a slight run to bring it as close as 23-18, but that was as close as they were ever going to get to wining as Viterbro shut them down and sealed the win.
Despite the loss, SXU has nothing to be ashamed of as they went 3-1 in the tournament and beat some seriously tough teams in the process. Not only this, but the team is having their best start to the season so far, and if they continue their level of play their season will only continue. The team returns to action this coming Tuesday, for a recap of that game and many other events around the neighborhood keep it locked here at the Xavierite.
Kenneth Washington
Deputy Sports Writer