Volleyball team spends past weekends out-of-state preparing for season

This archived article was written by: Josh Luke

The College of Eastern Utah volleyball team started their season with a 3-9 record after playing in weekend tournaments in Idaho and Wyoming At a preseason tournament hosted at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, the weekend of August 27-28, CEU played eight teams in two days. The team played five matches the first day with three wins garnered against Western Wyoming 26-30, 30-26 and 15-8; Yavapai College from Arizona 30-27 and 30-27; and Northwest College from Washington state 30-23, 19-30 and 15-8.
They losses came at the hands of Salt Lake Community College 23-30, and 18-30; they also lost a heartbreaker to Sheridan Wyoming 30-26, 29-31, and 15-10. Coach Brent Martindale said that he thought they should have won this game. After loosing this game the team lost it’s momentum and lost three straight the next day.
On Saturday the team lost three straight to North Idaho, 26-30, 19-30; Dixie 28-30, 25-30; and Casper Wyoming 29-31,10-30.
“Amy Warburton was the top offensive player of this tournament,” said Martindale. He also said that Cassidy Dawes and Megan Hunsaker played very well.
Martindale said that he was pleased with the way the team played in their first tournament but thinks that they have the ability to do much better.
The volleyball team was busy again this last weekend, September 3rd and 4th. They were at the Western State College Classic in Gunnison Colorado. At this tournament CEU was the only two-year college in attendance. All of the other teams were four-year colleges.
Coach Martindale said that he knew that it was going to be a very tough tournament before they went. He said that he was worried that it might be a mistake to go to this tournament but that he is glad that he went now. Although the team didn’t win any games at this tournament Martindale said that he was proud of the team because they put up a great effort against some very tough teams.
Martindale said that after loosing their second game against Adam’s State College the team went back to the hotel and had a meeting. He said that he didn’t know about the
meeting but he was glad they had it because of the way they played the next two games.
In their last game against Western State College, CEU lost the first game 26-30. In the second game CEU was serving at game point 29-28 and ended up loosing 29-31. The next game had the exact same scenario as the Eagles were serving for game point at 29-28 and ended up loosing 29-31. Other scores were; University of Colorado/Colorado Springs 18-30, 15-30, 20-30; Dowling State College, 26-30, 19-30, 22-30; and Adams State College, 21-30, 19-30, 22-30.
Coach Martindale said that the toughest game they played at this tournament was against Dowling College from Long Island, N.Y. Amy Warburton led the team again offensively with 16 kills in one game.
The Eagles faced national powerhouse CSI last night, but the scores were unavailable at press time. The team is on the road again this weekend at the Santa Anna Invitational in California, and again next Wednesday against Western Wyoming at the BDAC at 7 p.m.