| CEU’s Emilee Madsen backsets to teammate Amy Fluckiger during their first conference match against Dixie on Friday night at the BDAC. The Lady Eagles triumphed over Dixie, but lost to Snow College the next day at home, making them 1-1 in conference play. Fluckiger had team highs in both games for CEU, including 11 kills against Snow. |
College of Eastern Utah began conference play last weekend with two home games against Dixie and Snow.
The Lady Eagles defeated Dixie Friday night then lost to Snow on Saturday.
The match was over in four games, with CEU winning the first 30-23, losing the second 31-29, then winning the last two games 30-25 and 30-28.
Coach Brent Martindale said the team easily had its highest hitting percentage of the year at .438.
“Our girls never backed down,” he commented. “We got our leads early and held them.”
Amy Collette lead the team with 16 kills, a hitting percentage of .231 and three blocks. Emily Bowles had nine kills and two blocks and Amy Fluckiger had five kills, four blocks and one ace.
Saturday’s match ended with similar results to the previous night, but the wins were on Snow’s side on the net.
The Eagles lost to Snow in four matches, winning only the second game. The final scores were 30-23, 33-31, 30-24 and 30-28.
According to Martindale, the team lacked the intensity that players had against Dixie.
Snow also used a serving strategy that proved troublesome for CEU, hitting deep, powerful serves that the Eagles struggled to return.
“We couldn’t pass or get a good offense going,” Martindale explained.
Jordan Fox had 12 kills, two blocks and two aces for the match. Fluckiger had 11 kills, five blocks, one ace and only two errors.
Despite the loss to Snow, Martindale said he was encouraged by the matches.
“We played horrible against Snow, but kept it close,” he stated. “We have a lot of season left and we could end up still beating some teams.”
CEU is 1-1 in conference play. Eagles travel this weekend to California for tournaments.
The Lady Eagles will host College of Southern Idaho on Sept. 26. The match begins at 7 p.m.