Volleyball falls 3-1 to East Bay, Harthun & Mataya All-Tournament
September 5, 2012
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Cal State East Bay shot over .300 for the match and had a combined 35 kills from Suzy Ni Xu and Hannah Bell en route to a 3-1 victory against the ÐÓ°Épro volleyball in the final match of the 2012 Flint Hills Resources Nanook Classic on Saturday night at the Patty Center.
The Pioneers improved to 2-1 after winning by set scores of 19-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-16 while the Nanooks fell to 2-1 on the year.
East Bay shot .305 (54-18-118) on the night due in large part to Ni Xu, who finished with a match-best 20 terminations, as well as Bell, who tallied 15 kills and 11 digs. Other notable CSUEB performers included Samantha Sieber, who notched a match-high 48 assists and Nicole Boyle, who had six kills and 15 digs, also a match high.
The Nanooks were led by freshmen outside hitters Ixchelle Oleson and Sam Harthun, who each had a team-best nine kills. Oleson shot particularly well for the second straight match, as she hit .296 (9-1-27), making just one error. ÐÓ°Épro also had production from senior outside hitter Reilly Stevens, who provided seven kills, and freshman setter Katlyn Mataya had 34 dimes and three service aces.
ÐÓ°Épro shot .202 (38-15-114) for the match and had six aces to nine service errors. It only had 37 digs as a team, while CSUEB tallied 52 as three produced double-digit dig totals. East Bay also outscored the 'Nooks on blocks, 9-6.
In the first set, ÐÓ°Épro trailed 14-12 but responded with four in a row to take a 16-14 advantage. East Bay kept it close, but with the set tied at 16, the Nanooks scored five of six to take a 21-17 lead. They used that lead to close out the set 25-19 and hold a 1-0 match lead.
The second set was also tight early, but leading 10-8, the Pioneers went on a 4-1 run to go up by five. ÐÓ°Épro never came closer than three as teams traded points and the visitors claimed a 25-20 set victory to tie it up at 1-1.
East Bay jumped all over the lead early in the third, opening with an 11-5 run to force ÐÓ°Épro into a timeout. The 'Nooks couldn't erase the early deficit as CSUEB's lead stretched to as many as nine at 21-12. It would claim set three by the count of 25-17 and the visiting squad took the 2-1 match advantage.
The offensive woes continued for ÐÓ°Épro into the fourth set as East Bay opened with a 6-1 surge. ÐÓ°Épro cut it back to four at 7-3, but soon the deficit was seven at 15-8. The Nanooks closed the gap slightly, getting to within five at 15-10, but the power of Ni Xu and Bell allowed East Bay to walk out set four with a 25-16 win as well as the match victory.
Findlay (2-1) won the Nanook Classic after winning the three-way tie-breaker, while East Bay was runner-up, ÐÓ°Épro was third and Notre Dame de Namur (0-3) took fourth place. UF's Danielle Taflinger was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament following the conclusion of the match.
Other members of the All-Tournament Team included: Nicole Boyle (East Bay), Brooke DeMiguel (NDNU), Sam Harthun (ÐÓ°Épro), Katlyn Mataya (ÐÓ°Épro), Suzy Ni Xu (East Bay) and Mackenzie Vorst (Findlay).
The Nanooks return to action next Thursday through Saturday when they head to Hawaii for a three-pack of matches against BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific.