Volleyball goes 2-2 in Missouri, 6-2 in 2016

The Minnesota State Mavericks volleyball team went 2 – 2 at the Gold & Green Challenge over the weekend. The team traveled to Maryville, MO on Friday to square off against 24th ranked Rockhurst and Northwest Missouri State.

The first day of this two-day tournament did not go as planned for the Mavericks as they lost both games. The Mavericks started with Rockhurst (3-2) first and were swept 3-0. The score of the first set ended up 25-22. For the next two sets, MSU couldn’t catch up with both of the scores ending 25-20. All three sets were closely contested, until Rockhurst would prevail in the end. The Hawks had the advantage in both kills and assists. The Hawks had 48 kills and 47 assists to the Mavericks 38 and 37. Sophomore Sydney Powell led the Mavericks in kills with 12 along with her 3 blocks. Sophomore Autumn Risch was able to tally 32 assists for the Mavs as well.

The next game was against the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State (6-0). The second match started off like the first one. Northwest Missouri State won the first two sets with identical scores of 25-21. Down 2-0, the Mavericks stormed back in the third set winning 25-22. Momentum was on their side for the fourth set as the Mavs trounced the Bearcats with a score of 25-14. In the end, however, Northwest Missouri State won the final set with a score of 17-15.

When reading the stat sheet, the first idea would be thinking the Mavericks had won as they led in almost every category except aces. MSU had a 58-54 advantage in kills and 54-47 leg up in assists. Senior Krista Hassing led the game with 16 kills while Risch finished the game again first in assists with an astounding 46. This game ended the Mavericks day with a record of 0-2.

The Mavericks showed resiliency and were able to bounce back the next day. Just a few miles south of Maryville, the Mavericks traveled to St. Joseph and beat both Missouri S&T (2-5) and Missouri Western State (4-4). They first faced off with the Miners of Missouri S&T. They battled hard, as the game went to the fifth set. Mankato was able to dominate with 72 kills and 70 assists. In fact, they led in every category and Hassing dominated on the court with a season high 28 kills. Risch shows that she is continually putting the ball in the right spots as she led the game with 59 assists.

The Mavericks ended their weekend with a sweep against the Griffons. All three sets were hard fought, and in the last set, the Mavs had to outscore Missouri Western 31-29. Senior Sydney Geisness had a wonderful game and led the Mavs in kills with 14.

The team ended their non-conference schedule with a respectable 6-2 record. Their NSIC season starts on Thursday, September 15th as they travel to Winona State. The Mavericks faced the Warriors only once last year and came out victorious. First set will start at 7:00 PM.