Beginning its series of road trips in Dayton, Ohio, the women’s volleyball team (6-3) competed in the Dayton Marriott Flyer Classic Saturday, Sept. 10. The team first lost to 20th-ranked Michigan 3-2, and then beat 24th-ranked Florida State 3-1.
In the first game, the Lady Waves toughed out the loss to Michigan, though they contested Michigan throughout the match.
Stealing the last three points of the first match, the Waves started with a close 32-30 win, yet on the second set Michigan went on a 7- point run to beat the waves 25-16.
The third set brought hope as the Lady Waves squeezed past with a 27-25 victory ending with a kill by freshman Samantha Cash, but Michigan managed to pull through with another strong fourth set (19-25).
The Waves fittingly ended the game in a similar fashion to how it began the match, with a hard-fought fifth set; however, they did not hold as Michigan’s Claire McElheny put an end to it all with two kills (18-20).
Senior Kim Hill and freshman Kate Messing finished the match with 18.5 points each, and sophomore Kellie Woolever had 25 digs.
Michigan went on to defeat 23rd-ranked Dayton and claimed first place in the tournament.
Coming off the loss to the solid Michigan team, the ladies bounced back against Florida State.
The Waves nearly swept the Seminoles, only losing a tight second set 23-25.
Allowing Florida State to score a game-high six consecutive points in the second set, the Waves called a couple timeouts to regain composure.
The team then played strongly the rest of the match, winning its third and fourth sets 25-18 and 25-23, respectively.
Hill managed to pull through with a team-high of 19 kills and 20 points, and senior Lilla Frederick added 16.5 points and three service aces.
“We really stepped up this weekend and took out teams people didn’t think we could beat,” Messing said. “We learned this past week that we can beat anyone. Our opponent’s rankings don’t matter to us.”
Competing among ranked teams was just one of the key points of the tournament. On Sept. 10, senior Stevi Robinson also managed to break the school record for career digs.
Robinson accumulated 15 digs throughout the Flyer Classic, bringing the record to 1,419.
Next, the ladies travel to challenge 12th-ranked Hawaii in back-to-back away games in Honolulu Sept.16 and 17.
“We want to make it to a top 25 ranking,” Messing said. “Hawaii is going to be a tough match-up, but we are ready for any challenges.”
