Eagles struggle at home, on the road

This archived article was written by: Nate Davis

Eagles, Cardinals and Bruins, oh my. The College of Eastern Utah lady Eagles finished up a difficult four-game home stand on Saturday night when they played host to the Cardinals of Northern Idaho College. The Eagles also played Salt Lake Community College Bruins, College of Southern Idaho Eagles and the Dixie State Rebels. Then they traveled to the den of the Snow College Badgers.
The Eagles began a two-game home stand on October 7, hosting the SLCC Bruins. The Eagles struggled offensively against the Bruins. Six CEU players finished the game with negative hitting averages. SLCC won the match three games to none, beating CEU 30-10 30-22 and 30-24.
CEU continued their home stand when they took on the Dixie State Rebels the following night. In this game CEU had marked improvement, but could not finish off the pesky Rebels. Coach Brent Martindale said “Against Dixie, we had our chances, but did not have the aggressiveness to close it out. That comes from our inexperience and lack of confidence.” In this game the Eagles played much better as a team and saw great individual play from both Webb sisters, Hillary Proctor and Maren Ericson. The Eagles fell to Dixie in three games losing 32-30, 30-27 and 30-22.
The Eagles then traveled to Ephraim to take on the Snow College Badgers. The Badgers dismissed the Eagles in four games, winning the match three games to one. In the first game, Maren Ericson turned her ankle and did not return. The Eagles missed her serving prowess. The Eagles lost the first game 30-22, then picked up the second game of the match winning 31-29, but then dropped the next two, 30-17, and 30-21. Martindale said “we won game two and were happy, but then thought that was all that needed to happen.” Proctor stood out against the Badgers with the highest hitting average of the match for the Eagles with .300. Melissa Webb followed with . 267.
After the loss to Snow, the Eagles returned to the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center and were looking to take revenge upon the mighty Eagles of Southern Idaho. In the last meeting CSI, defeated CEU three matches to none. This game saw CSI continue their superhuman play, while the lady Eagles continued to struggle. The loss saw good play by Kelsey Kennedy, who finished the match with a .316 hitting average. Britanni Bentley and Meagan Webb also put up good numbers in the loss. CSI won the match in straight sets 30-16, 30-14 and 30-22.
The final game against North Idaho College, saw the Eagles struggle both offensively and defensively. NIC won the match 30-21 30-18, and 30-16. Melissa Webb was the only Eagle to break .200 on her hitting average.
On Thursday the Eagles travel to St. George to tangle with the Rebels of Dixie State College. Then they head to Salt Lake to play the Bruins of SLCC. Finally on November 3, they return to the BDAC to close out their season against arch-rival Snow College. Martindale, is hopeful for the rest of the season saying “The team is determined to finish out strong. I can see discouragement in their eyes, which is natural after losing six straight matches, but out goal is to keep learning and not give up.”