2008 Woodie Awards
Set, spike, sweep
Zachary Groves
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Sports
SIUE volleyball picked up two more Great Lakes Valley Conference victories at home this weekend, but may need to pick up more than that to prepare for its upcoming road trip against top conference teams.
The Cougars battled inconsistent play and a solid University of Missouri-St. Louis blocking game Saturday to sweep the Tritons 3-0 and took on a young but tough University of Missouri-Rolla group, but pulled off the sweep Friday night.
SIUE played the comeback kid in all three games against UMSL, battling from at least two points down each time to win. The Cougars came within losing game two, but junior middle hitter Kelsey Hubert kept the Vadalabene Center crowd on its feet after she stole the game point from the Tritons twice and helped set up the game winner.
Hubert led the team with 15 kills.
"It's a compliment to the girls that we don't play our best game, and yet we can still find a way to win," SIUE Head Coach Todd Gober said.
The Cougars ran into additional trouble with UMSL's blocks as they were denied eight times.
"We were setting the ball right into them, we had trouble setting the outside ball and our offense became a little more predictable," Gober said. "And when you become predictable, I think you make anybody a better blocking team."
UMSL Head Coach Josh Lauer said the Tritons are built primarily on defense and if there were not a few mistakes late in the games, the result might be different.
"Our game is to try to frustrate the other team by keeping the ball off the floor and I thought they did a good job of that," Lauer said. "Just a couple of balls fell against us, a couple of nice shots late in games … two and three especially, and that's a difference maker."
The Cougars faced an equally frustrating challenge in UMR, who carried 14 freshmen into Friday's match. On paper, the 1-16 Miners (as of Tuesday) might have been an easy match, but sophomore outside hitter Candice Kummer, a key player in games two and three Friday, disagreed.
The Cougars battled inconsistent play and a solid University of Missouri-St. Louis blocking game Saturday to sweep the Tritons 3-0 and took on a young but tough University of Missouri-Rolla group, but pulled off the sweep Friday night.
SIUE played the comeback kid in all three games against UMSL, battling from at least two points down each time to win. The Cougars came within losing game two, but junior middle hitter Kelsey Hubert kept the Vadalabene Center crowd on its feet after she stole the game point from the Tritons twice and helped set up the game winner.
Hubert led the team with 15 kills.
"It's a compliment to the girls that we don't play our best game, and yet we can still find a way to win," SIUE Head Coach Todd Gober said.
The Cougars ran into additional trouble with UMSL's blocks as they were denied eight times.
"We were setting the ball right into them, we had trouble setting the outside ball and our offense became a little more predictable," Gober said. "And when you become predictable, I think you make anybody a better blocking team."
UMSL Head Coach Josh Lauer said the Tritons are built primarily on defense and if there were not a few mistakes late in the games, the result might be different.
"Our game is to try to frustrate the other team by keeping the ball off the floor and I thought they did a good job of that," Lauer said. "Just a couple of balls fell against us, a couple of nice shots late in games … two and three especially, and that's a difference maker."
The Cougars faced an equally frustrating challenge in UMR, who carried 14 freshmen into Friday's match. On paper, the 1-16 Miners (as of Tuesday) might have been an easy match, but sophomore outside hitter Candice Kummer, a key player in games two and three Friday, disagreed.
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