| Candace Gunnell sets the ball for a teammate during the game on Oct. 28 against Northern Idaho College. The Lady Eagles, in their final home game of the season, lost the game, but in a later contest took the Lady Cardinals to the wire in a hard fought contest that they came close to winning. |
It had been a tough year for the College of Eastern Utah Lady Eagles volleyball team until last week.
And then it got tougher.
With two games left, and a renewed sense of team as the women had improved with each game they face opponents, one of which they had a good chance of beating, the other the league leader in the Scenic West Conference.
Last Thursday night they faced North Idaho College at home. Often in the past the Lady Cardinals have been one of the doormat teams of the league, although they have improved and this year they have held steady at fourth place.
On the other hand it’s been difficult for the Lady Eagles to rise out of the standings cellar. However, this game may have been their chance for a league win before the season ended.
However, in the end they ended up losing to the team from the north 18-30, 27-30, and 25-30.
Then on election night they went to Twin Falls to face the College of Southern Idaho Lady Eagles. For the final time this season they put on their shoes and went out and played in courageous fashion, but fell to one of the best teams in the junior college west 18-30, 16-30 and 17-30.
In the home game with NIC, the Lady Cardinals broke out early with a 3-9 lead before anyone knew it. CEU rallied a little and brought the score to 10-15, but then the skids came off the sled as they slipped down a slippery slope losing that first contest 18-30.
The second game was very different. While NIC sped off to a 4-7 lead, the CEU women wouldn’t let this one get away without a fight. They brought the score to a tie at 9-9 and continued dogging the NIC team until the Lady Cardinals made another break at 13-19.
But from there it was a battle. CEU fought to catch up from a 17-26 deficit. CEU then went on a 8-1 run and it appeared they had the momentum.
But suddenly the pendulum went the other way and the Lady Cardinals nicked off a couple of points. However, CEU was also able to put a couple on the board at the same time. It seemed time to win a game, but NIC put three more points on the board it read 27-30.
After the break between the games, CEU came back out and held their own. However, while similar to game two of the series, they never had quite the same spark and fell 25-30.
On Tuesday night they must have felt like a Democrat on a Utah County ballot, as they came out and went down time after time to the power CSI Lady Eagles team.
It was a sad ending for a season that had started so optimistically. However, not all was lost because over the course of preseason they had won a number of matches in tournaments, had stretched four year school Westminster College to five games both times they played and improved greatly in each game during their Scenic West regular season schedule.
For the sophomores, they will be heading other places after this year. For the freshman they can look forward to next year with the experience of this year under their belts, which will make them much better players when the games all begin again next August.