September 27, 2008
CU gets above .500 with sweep
MONTICELLO, Arkansas (September 27) – Cameron’s volleyball team (8-7, 1-2 LSC) got back above the .500 mark today with a sweep of their two matches at the University of Arkansas-Monticello Invitational. CU started the day with a 3-1 victory over Southern Arkansas and finished it with a 3-2 win over the host Cotton Blossoms of Arkansas-Monticello. This was the final regular season tournament for the Aggies this season.
CU’s match with the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas was scored 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, while their match with UAMONT was scored 25-22, 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-8. Cameron’s play was mercurial throughout the tournament according to head coach Brianne Smedley.
“This weekend was the most up and down we have played all season,” Coach Smedley said. “We would come out for a series of points and play great, and then back off and let the other team back in it. We’d give up a big lead and then have to make a comeback. It was just back and forth.”
In one of Cameron’s sets they built a 15-0 lead and won, but followed it up with a loss in the very next set.
“Even though we won, we played inconsistent,” Coach Smedley said. “We were doing it to ourselves. The other teams played consistently, but we were up and down.”
In CU’s victory over the Muleriders, junior right-side hitter Lindsay Paziuk led the way offensively with 17 kills. Freshman outside hitters Adrienne Lawson and Malyssa Acton finished with 16 and 12 kills, respectively.
“Lindsay, Adrienne, and Malyssa were basically our entire offense against Southern Arkansas,” Coach Smedley said.
When CU matched up with the Cotton Blossoms, Paziuk again led the team in kills with 22, giving her 39 for the tournament. Acton added another 14 kills, while Lawson and senior middle blocker Whitney Long contributed 11 kills apiece.
Junior setter Laura Ellerbrock finished the tournament with 85 total assists.
The Aggies travel to Goodwell, Oklahoma, this Tuesday (September 30) to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State University. The first half of this season’s home-and-home series with OPSU begins at 7:00pm. The CU-OPSU series wraps up on October 28, at 7:00pm in the Aggie Gym.
Other than the CU-OPSU series, the Aggies will face only Lone Star Conference opponents for the remainder of the season.
“All of the remaining matches are really going to count,” Coach Smedley said. “There have been some upsets so far this year in the Lone Star Conference, so we know that every match will be really important. We will need to make sure and not look too far ahead and keep our next match in focus. We need to play as hard as we can.”
Complete statistics from Cameron’s participation in the University of Arkansas-Monticello Invitational were not yet available at the time of this release. Aggie fans can check the Cameron Athletics website (goaggies.cameron.edu) later this weekend for complete results and statistics.