Ladies looking for conference win

College of Eastern Utah volleyball started its conference play last weekend as they welcomed the Badgers of Snow College into the confines of the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center on Thursday and the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles on Friday. They played a non-league game Tuesday evening against Westminster College Tuesday.
Against Snow the lady Eagles were lead by Maren Erickson who showed her powerhouse offense as she sent 16 kills raining down her Badger foes.   The Eagles lost games 1 and 2, 17-30 and 25-30, but turned things around by winning game 3 in a barn burner, 34-32. The win gave CEU hope and momentum in the match, as they came out in game 4 to take an early 13-10 lead.    Later in game 4, with the score tied 17-17, a controversial call was made against the CEU crowd for harassing the other team, that resulted in a red card and automatic point for the Badgers.  From there, CEU was unable to re-establish the mental push to get back in the game, and Snow won game 4 30-26, and the match 3 games to 1.  
About the call that was made, Coach Brent Martindale said, “It was very unfortunate that it happened at the time it did in the match because we had some momentum and belief that we could still win the match, but we still should have made our own opportunities to win, and we didn’t.”  
 The calls by the referee against the CEU crowd were protested and reviewed, and the league has announced that an incorrect call had been made, but no action will be taken at the time of print.  
Also playing well for CEU were Jamie King with 12 kills and a .296 hitting average and Karina Rocha with 13 kills and 3 blocks.  Setter Heather Mcfarland has 39 assists for CEU, a season high.  
The following day the Golden Eagles clashed, as CEU took the court opposite reigning 2005 National Champions College of Southern Idaho.   The Idaho Eagles disgraced CEU, as the leading scorer for EU was Heather McFarland, with a .200 attack average. She was the only CEU player to end the game with a positive average.   Needless to say the Southern Idaho Eagles flew circles around Eastern Utah, winning all three games of the match 30-23, 30-16, 30-15.    
Martindale had no consoling words:   “There may have been some good moments, but it is the first time this season that we have been completely outmatched and humiliated.”
On Tuesday night, the four- year Westminster College Griffins came to town for a non-conference match.  Once again, the Eagles showed some youth and inexperience playing well at moments, but not able to come out on top.  
The Griffins won in three games 30-23, 30-26, 30-21.   Leading CEU was Freshman Rocha with 11 kills, 2 aces and 13 digs.  Sophomore Courtney Young had 25 digs for CEU.  
But don’t let these few losses get you down; these ladies are putting in a hard work every day. The ladies are home again this weekend where on Friday and Saturday they will hone their skills against the team from Northern Idaho College. Game times are 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday.