Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northwestern
Despite career highs, 'Cats drop two matches
8/28/2011 3:13:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SALT LAKE CITY - Sophomore outside hitter Briana Wilms continued her strong early season play with a pair of career-high performances on Saturday, but the Wildcats came up just short of picking up their first win of the season.
The Weber State University women's volleyball team dropped a five-set marathon to former Big Sky Conference rival Cal State Northridge on Saturday evening, coming on the heels of a three-set loss to Northwestern on Saturday morning.
The Wildcats (0-3) fell 25-19, 27-25, 23-25, 21-25, 15-11 to the Matadors, while Northwestern won 25-19, 25-22, 25-20.
Wilms, out of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, had 30 combined kills across two matches, including a career-high 18 against Cal State Northridge. It was the third straight match at the sophomore reached a career high kills total after having 12 against Northwestern.
"I thought we grew a lot as a team," Wilms said. "There are still a lot of improvements we can make, and a lot of things we can learn from, but I thought that this was a positive start to our season.
"Coming off the bench last year, I was just really excited to have those highs in the game. I've got stuff to improve on, little areas that I can get better on, but I thought I came in there and made a difference."
Junior outside hitter Bethany Wray added 14 kills and six digs, reach double figures kills for the fifth straight match - dating back to last season - and the 28th time in her career.
Junior middle blocker Emily Jones also had a stellar outing against the Matadors with 10 block assists, a career high and the most by a Weber State player since 2008.
Sophomore libero Mikelle Kap and junior defensive specialist Michele Arave each reached career-highs in digs with 24 and 15, respectively, while junior setter Caitlin Penrod set career highs in assists (36), digs (9) and blocks (7).
As a team, Weber State had 16.5 total blocks, the most in a match since 2008.
The match against Northridge was a see-saw affair that featured 29 ties and 11 lead chances across the five sets. With the leading 1-0 in the match, the Wildcats had a prime chance to level things at 1-1 with a 24-21 advantage in the second set, but a late rally gave CSUN the 2-0 lead.
Despite trailing, Weber State didn't back down from the challenge and gutted out a third set win after trailing 22-21. The Wildcats never trailed in the fourth set, pulling away from a 21-all tie to score the final four points of the set to force a decisive fifth set.
Tied at 8-8, Northridge converted three kills during a 4-0 surge that made it 12-8 and went on to take the set, and match, by four points.
"I think anybody hates to lose; that's the hard part about this," Weber State coach Tom Peterson said. "The good part is if you talk to the players, and people who have seen us play before, I think that we've made improvements in every single match we've played, significant improvements.
"There are still some things we need to work on and shore up, but I think we're going to be a good team."
In the day's opening match with Northwestern, the Wildcats fell in straight sets.
Wilms and Wray had 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Kap had 18 digs, which was a career-high until the later match. Freshman McKay Tarbox added eight digs for WSU in the match for the Wildcats, who had 10.5 team blocks with freshman Mackenzie Clark and Wilms each tallying two solo blocks.
Weber State will return to action on Tuesday night when it travels to face in-state rival BYU in Provo. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
