Volleyball brings home wins

This archived article was written by: David Osborne Jr.

The USU Eastern Golden Eagles volleyball team headed down to Scottsdale, AZ, to participate in another tournament in hopes to prepare the team for region play. The team played six games, going 2-4.
In the first game of the tournament the Golden Eagles faced the South Mountain Community College Cougars from Arizona. USU Eastern lost in five sets, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12. The team had 44 kills in the five sets but also had 26 errors. The first set was the team’s best statistically speaking with nine kills, only three errors with 26 total attempts. Whitney Riffle and Koralys Gonzalez led the tem with 11 points apiece. Riffle also led the team with kills, nine.
For the second game of the tournament, USU Eastern faced the Pima Community College Aztecs out of Tucson Arizona. The Golden Eagles dropped that match as well losing 3-1. Unfortunately at the time of this article there was no more information available other then the set score.
In the third game of the tournament, USU Eastern faced the Glendale Community College Vaqueros. Eastern lost in 3-1 going, 23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-18. Once again the Golden Eagles were able to take the first set but unable to use that as momentum in the rest of the match. The first set went well for the team with only three errors, 17 kills with 45 total attacks for a .311 scoring percentage. Jessica Wilcox led the team with 10 kills while adding 11 digs.
USU Eastern faced the Phoenix College Bears. The Golden Eagles got off to a slow start dropping the first set but taking the next three for their first win of the tournament going 3-1, 25-20, 18-25, 18-25, 19-25. The Golden Eagles only gave up a .044 kill percentage to the Bears.
Following the win, USU Eastern had the opportunity to face former College of Eastern Utah (USU Eastern) head coach Brent Martindale and his Mesa Community College Thunderbirds. The Golden Eagles had a rough start again dropping the first and second sets but were able to battle back and took the next three and a win away from the former head coach, 3-2, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 13-25, 6-15.
In the final game of the tournament Eastern had to face Arizona Western College, the tenth ranked volleyball team in the nation, as of the September 9 poll. The Golden Eagles lost in four, 3-1, 25-14, 22-25, 25-14, 25-15.
Talking about her team, head coach Chelsey Warburton said, “We are
continually working on minimizing our errors. If we can do that and play competitively the entire match we are hard to beat.” So far this season the Golden Eagles have 274 errors, including 58 service errors, 60 reception errors and 16 block errors.
When asked about team leaders, Warburton responded, “Paige Peterson and [Jessica] Wilcox continue to lead us. They are both sophomores so they know what to expect and know the level we need to compete at to be successful. “
The Golden Eagles will host the Salt Lake All-Stars on Friday September 20 at 7 pm in the BDAC before starting region play on September 27, hosting the North Idaho College Cardinals.