SAN DIMAS, Calif. - The Ottawa University Arizona women's volleyball team finished day two of the Life Pacific College Classic in San Dimas, California. OUAZ faced Saint Katherine College and Life Pacific College. The Spirit lost to Saint Katherine 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 25-16, 25-12) and lost to Providence Christian College 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 25-19, 25-19, 15-12).
With the losses, the Spirit move to 2-5 overall on the season.
"We continued to improve," commented Head Coach Kristin Steele. "We need to continue to work on finishing. We played as a team, but just couldn't finish today."
Match three of the tournament, first of the day on Saturday, pitted OUAZ against the Saint Katherine Firebirds and OUAZ fell in four sets. The Firebirds established themselves early serving tough and playing scrappy defense to win the game 25-21. Game two went along the same line, but our Spirit fought back with some hustle on defense, losing the game 25-20. Game three the Spirit saw the opportunity to take back the momentum and did so by serving tough and matching the defensive level of the Firebirds to win the game 25-16. In the fourth set, the Firebirds caught their stride again and maintaining their serving and defense added some strategic offensive attacks to their arsenal to win the game 25-16 and the match.
Match two of the day saw the Spirit match-up against Life Pacific College. The Spirit started out game one playing aggressively on defense to open up opportunities for their offense to work winning the game 25-22. Game two the Warriors took the lead early causing errors and running their offense to win 25-18. Game three followed suit with the Warriors running their quick offense efficiently to win the game 25-19 and force the match to four sets. Game four the Spirit fought back gaining the lead early and keeping through the game by playing great defense, running their offense well, and serving tough to win the set 25-19. Game five the Warriors grabbed the lead and kept it through the game even though the Spirit fought to a point differential multiple times in the game. The Warriors finished the game 15-12 to win the match.
The Spirit were led by Jessica Youngberg (JR/Peoria, AZ) setting, but also utilized Carlee Beck (SO/Des Moines, Iowa) as a setting option. Jessica Youngberg finished the day with 62 sets, Nicole Newman(FR/Avondale, AZ) finished the day with 24 Kills with Kylie Greenway(SO/Riverside, CA) behind her with 20 kills for the day. Kelsey Marchant(JR/Powell, WY) and Olivia Kovacs (JR/Puyallup, WA) alternated Libero responsibilities and collected 19 and 22 digs respectively. Deauna Johnson (JR/Lakewood, WA) had 25 digs for the day leading her team as a defensive specialist.
The Spirit play their next two games at home against Benedictine University - Mesa on Wednesday September 13th and against SAGU American Indian College on Thursday September 14th at 7:00pm inside of the Valley Vista High School gym.
#
About Ottawa University
Founded in 1865, Ottawa University prepares professional and liberal arts graduates for lifetimes of personal significance, vocational fulfillment and service to God and humanity within a Christ-inspired community of grace and open inquiry. Ottawa University is a comprehensive, not-for-profit educational institution serving 3,000 students through its residential campuses in Ottawa, Kan., and Surprise, Ariz., and adult campuses in Overland Park, Kan.; Phoenix, Queen Creek and Surprise, Ariz.; Brookfield, Wis.; Jeffersonville, Ind.; as well as online. For more information, visit www.ottawa.edu.
For more information about OUAZ athletics, visit http://www.ottawa.edu/ouaz/athletics. Follow OUAZ athletics on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OUAZSpiritAthletics/ and on Twitter twitter.com/OUAZSpirit.
