USU-CEU volleyball gaining ground
By TERRY WILLIS
Sun Advocate sports reporter
The wheels are moving in the right direction for the USU-CEU women's volleyball team. They put together a pair of two game winning streaks with a single loss in between each. The team took on some talented alumni in the all-star game and got off to a slow start before beating them in three straight.
Then they were off to Arizona on Sept. 10 for five matches. The CEU squad took 3 of 5 beginning with a win over Eastern Arizona in four sets. On that same day they lost in four sets to Phoenix College and then beat Scottsdale in three.
The following day they made short work on Mesa in a three set win, but Glendale halted their second winning streak by beating them in a marathon four set match.
The scores for the win over Eastern Arizona were 25-17, 25-23, 22-25 and 29-27. Miranda Parkinson led the way with 16 kills and three service aces. Barbara Jardin smashed 13 kills and two aces. Julia Potts ran the offense with 37 set assists.
Phoenix College handed CEU their first tournament loss by the scores of 25-14, 25-23, 12-25, and 25-17. Kylie Cordin and Julia Potts ended with eight defensive digs.
The Eagles got back on track with a fast win over Scottsdale 25-21, 27-25 and 25-21. There were 28 individual kills for CEU and 84 team attacks in the victory. Mesa College didn't put up much of a fight at all as CEU downed them 25-16, 25-15 and 25-21. Kylie Cordon was hot at the serving line with four aces on the afternoon. The Eagles racked up 50 defensive digs to stop Mesa's offense cold.
Wrapping up the tournament CEU took a tough loss to Glendale 27-25, 19-25, 25-21 and 25-19. All the sets were close and hard fought. Parkinson rammed 14 kills over and Jardin had 12, but it wasn't quite enough to keep the streak alive.
"These are really good teams," said head coach Grant Barraclough about their opponents in Arizona, "I don't think our girls understood the great magnitude of those wins. Before CSI began to dominate volleyball, the national title team usually came out of this Arizona conference. It was an eye opener to them that they can beat good teams"
Barraclough went on to point out the good play from individuals like Cordon whose strong serving was the turning point for several sets. Sabina Simas was solid and improved to .300 hitting. Julia Potts has shown the biggest jump in her game since the CSI tournament and Barraclough says she is running a great offense. Combine that with the overall dominating play from Parkinson and Jardin at the net and the team is set to do battle in the strongest conference in the nation.
Friday night the team will sharpen their skills against an All-star team made up of U of U volleyball alumni. That match will be at 7 p.m. at the BDAC.
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