CEU wraps up volleyball season

This archived article was written by: Nate Davis

The College of Eastern Utah volleyball team wrapped up its season in disappointing fashion last Saturday after a loss in the South Western Athletic Conferance tournament to bitter rival Snow College, after winning the previous week against Colorado Northwest Community College Spartans.
 The Eagles went into the game against the Spartans looking for a win. Head Coach Brent Martindale said, “We were determined to not let our guard down, because they are a much improved team.” CEU came out strong in the game, dominating the first set winning by a score of 25-8.
The second set saw the Eagles continue their dominance over the Spartans, who didn’t have an answer for the tough CEU team. The Eagles won the second set 25-13. In the third set, CNCC fought back, and made it the Eagles work for the win. CEU won the third set 25-21, taking the match 3-0.
Megan Garvin led the Eagles with eight kills in the win. Sabrina Simas contributed seven kills, and two-service aces. CEU also saw impressive play from Cami Hussey who had four aces while Alexis Adams racked up nine digs in the win.
After the game against CNCC the Eagles headed to the SWAC tournament where they faced off against in-state rival Snow College. The Eagles dropped the first set to Snow 25-18. But they fought back to take the second set of the match by a score of 25-19.
In the third set, CEU ran into trouble. Martindale said that the Eagles were “leading in game three, when we had a string of hitting errors–out of bounds, in the net, getting blocked–and we were still leading 17-15.  But the errors eventually let Snow get some momentum, and it changed the match entirely.”
After that the Eagles were never able to recover and dropped the remaining games in the match, 25-19 and 25-21. With the tough loss to Snow, CEU’s season was over.
Martindale said, “The team was very down after the match, but I told the team that we had a great season–one of the best-ever for CEU volleyball and that as much as it hurts right now, we have to remember how well we did this year.”
CEU finished the regular season with a 15-15 record which Martindale said is the best winning percentage his teams have had. Also five members of the team were named to the All-Tournament team, which SWAC coaches voted on during the tournament.  
Barbara Jardim was named to the first team all region. Alexis Adams was named to the second team all region; Megan Garvin, Sabrina Simas and Chloe Wilson all were named honorable mention all region. Martindale said this was the first time that a CEU player was named to the first team all region. It is also the first time that a player was named to the all-region team two years in a row. And it is the most players that have been named to the all-region team in CEU history.