Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
at Bradley
Wildcats go undefeated at the CEFCU Classic
9/5/2015 9:48:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Weber State University's women's volleyball team went undefeated in the CEFCU Classic in Peoria, Ill., taking down UMASS Lowell 3-0, Bradley 3-1, and Manhattan 3-0.
"Our goals for the whole weekend was to not worry about who was on the other side of the net and to focus on ourselves," head coach Jeremiah Larsen said. "We wanted to get better every play and leave the court better than when we entered."
Megan Thompson, who had had 31 kills overall on the weekend with 63 attacks, was named the tournament MVP and Tanisha Langston and Thamires Cavalcanti were named to the All-Tournament Team.
During the first match against UMASS Lowell, Friday morning Weber State won in a quick three sets with scores of 25-20, 25-12 and 25-20. Thompson had 21 attacks and 17 kills with a percentage of .524. Junior Amanda Varley had the second highest kills on the match with nine. Taylor Christensen-Kinikini led the team with 36 assists. Cavalcanti and Langston each contributed a high of 12 digs. Langston's 12 were a new career high. Jesse Hover added 10 digs.
Friday night Weber State defeated Bradley in four sets with scores of 25-20, 27-29, 28-26, and 28-26. The Wildcats fell behind in both the third and fourth sets. Several clutch blocks changed the momentum of the third set giving the Wildcats the needed edge to claim the set.
Bradley nearly rallied to force a deciding fifth set by getting an 18-11 lead in the fourth set but Weber State rallied and with the help of several serving aces from Hover and Christensen-Kinikini the Wildcats pulled out the victory over the Braves.
Kinikini had a new season high 44 assists against the Braves. Thompson led the Wildcats with a hitting percentage of .409 having 10 kills and 22 attacks. Langston had 31 attacks and 13 kills, the highest kills of the night. Cavalcanti had 19 digs. Weber State had 13 team blocks to Bradley's 10.
"Something Weber State has never done before is to fight when they get down," Larsen said. "It was really amazing to see that mentality change in the Bradley match."
Saturday morning the Wildcats took on Manhattan and won in three sets with scores of 25-22, 25-16, 25-17. Thompson led the Wildcats with 12 kills and a percentage .550. Ciera Borho had 32 attacks. Christensen-Kinikini put up 32 assists and Cavalcanti had 14 digs. Weber State had 15 team blocks to Manhattan's five.
"The thing I like most is that our kids are having fun playing volleyball again. They are gaining confidence in themselves that they can be successful.
The Wildcats are now 3-3 overall on the season and will next travel to Reno, Nev., to take on Nevada and Miami (Ohio). The Wildcats return home to Swenson Gym on October 1 to take on Big Sky Opponent Portland State.
"It was a completely different team than the week before," Larsen said. "We are making great progress on the things that we've been working on. It's not just one kid it's a solid effort from everyone."
