LA MIRADA, Calif. –
Alaina Slater combined for 16 kills and six blocks on the day, but it wasn't enough for the College of Idaho, as the Lady Yotes dropped two matches to Top-25 teams at the Red Lion-Anaheim Summer Slam Tournament in Chase Gymnasium.
C of I (1-3) opened the day with a three-set loss to No. 6 ranked Midland (25-19, 27-25, 25-21), before No. 16 Westmont topped the Yotes in four-sets (22-25, 25-14, 26-24, 25-22).
In the morning match, MU (3-0) used an early 6-1 run in the first set to break a 9-9 and ease to the opening win. C of I responded in Set 2, surging to a 11-5 advantage on the strength of two kills and a block from
Katy Robinson – however, the Warriors battled back to tie the score at 19-19 and kills from Jessica Peters and Priscilla O'Dowd broke a 25-25 tie to give the Nebraska school the two-set lead.
Set 3 featured 10 ties over the first 38 points, before the Yotes grabbed a 21-19 lead on a Slater spike. Unfortunately, MU closed the set on a 6-0 surge to earn the win.
Slater had nine kills on just 19 swings to lead C of I, with
Randi Sturtz,
Brenna Meehan and
Abbey Fenton all clocking eight kills.
Jayde Folsom had 20 assists and
Cheyan Coburn led the way with 13 digs. O'Dowd led Midland with 12 kills.
Two hours later, the Yotes bounced back quickly against Westmont (4-0) – breaking a 22-22 tie, the 18th deadlock of Set 1, with a Meehan kill, a
Brielle Sheppeard ace and a WC hitting error to claim the first frame.
The Warriors wasted no time in Set 2, scoring 20 of the first 28 points – forcing 10 C of I errors, to even the match up. Set 3 was back-and-forth, as after the Yotes built a 15-11 lead, WC countered with a pair of combo-blocks to tie the score at 17-17. Following five ties, the last at 24-24, a kill from Taylor Beckman and a Coyote error pushed Westmont to the one set advantage.
Westmont controlled Set 4, taking a late 22-18 lead. C of I would get a Meehan kill and block in a three-point rally to pull within 22-21, but could not get closer.
Meehan led C of I with 13 kills; Sturtz had 10 and Slater recorded seven kills and five blocks. Folsom had 26 assists and Coburn added 22 digs in the loss. Beckman led WC with 14 kills and 11 digs.
The Lady Yotes will play a non-counting match next week at Northwest Nazarene before traveling next weekend to the Big Sky Challenge in Butte, Mont.
