Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Nevada
Four 'Cats reach career highs; fall to Nevada 3-2
9/12/2015 5:13:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Reno, Nev. – Weber State University's volleyball team fell 3-2 to the University of Nevada Reno Friday night.
"When you lose a match like that it always stings," head coach Jeremiah Larsen saidl "It's supposed to sting. We are going to learn and continue to grow and form an identity so that the next time we are in this situation we can handle it better."
Errors really hurt the Wildcats in the first set resulting in a 19-25 loss. In the second set Weber State found momentum and tightened up the errors to claim the set 25-19.
The third set was a battle. Weber State jumped to an early 8-2 lead but Nevada fought back and kept the match neck and neck. With the match tied at 21-21, the Wildcats made a few errors giving the Wolf pack a 23-21 lead. Kills by Amanda Varley and Samantha Staker brought the score back to 23-23 before Varley came up with two clutch kills to lead the Wildcats into game point. Megan Thompson ended the match with a kill to give the Wildcats a 26-24 victory in the third set. Weber State had a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set.
Nevada controlled the majority of the fourth set leading by as much as 11 points and ended the set 25-13 forcing the match into the fifth and final set.
Weber State jumped to an early 8-4 lead half way through the fifth set but Nevada kept fighting and brought the score to 12-10 with the Wildcats remaining ahead. Thompson and freshman Andrea Hale came through with some big kills to keep the momentum in favor of the Wildcats. With the score tied at 14-14 an attack error by the Wildcats and a kill by Nevada's Sam Willoughby gave Nevada the 16-14 set win and the 3-2 match win over the Wildcats.
The Wildcats were led by Varley who had 59 attacks and 18 kills. Varley's performance earned her a new career high in attacks and season high in kills. Milestones were also made by Andrea Hale who earned two new career highs with her 11 kills and 40 attacks. Staker set a career high in digs with 17 and a season high with her 22 attacks and nine kills.
Thamires Cavalcanti led the Wildcats in digs on the night with 25 which also gave her a career high. Taylor Christensen-Kinikini led the night with 41 assists. Thompson had the best hitting percentage of .286 on the night with nine kills and 21 attacks. Jesse Hover also contributed 11 digs. Weber State was out blocked 11-16.
"I'm still proud of how we played volleyball and competed," Larsen said.
The Wildcats will next take on Miami (Ohio) Saturday afternoon before heading to Colorado to take on Air Force, Colorado and George Mason for the last preseason tournament of the year. Weber State will start Big Sky Conference play Sept. 23 at Montana and Sept. 26 at Idaho State. The first match of the year at Swenson Gym will be Oct. 1 against Portland State.
