After going 3–0 in the Northern Utah Classic, Weber State volleyball hit the road for another in-state tournament. The Wildcats traveled down to Provo and lost two of the three games at the BYU Invitational this past weekend.
The ‘Cats kicked the weekend off by falling to No.-13 BYU in a five-set thriller, taking home the victory in sets two and four and BYU winning the first, third, and fifth set: 25–23, 25–23, 25–18, 25–19 and 15–4, respectively.
The Wildcats opened their second day of the invitational against the Michigan State Spartans.
The Spartans started their weekend on Sept. 3 with back-to-back straight-set victories against Dixie State and the ‘Cats.
MSU showed no mercy for the Trailblazers and tallied scores of 25–19, 25-17 and 25–20.
Already on a roll, the Spartans were ready for their second match of the day, and Weber State had already opened their weekend with a loss.
The first set of the match was a tight game for the two squads as the first 14 points were put on the board. The teams sat at 7–7 until errors from the Wildcats let the Spartans establish a lead. The ‘Cats weren’t able to claw their way back, totaling only 20 points before the Spartans hit 25.
MSU suffered from some hitting errors, leading to the Wildcats being able to kick off the second set with a 4–1 lead before the Spartans were able to rally back and establish a 12–10 lead. The squads faced another back-and-forth match before MSU secured a 3-point lead and finished the match 25–22.
With little room for error, the ‘Cats headed into the third set of the match trailing 2–0. Weber State was starting to gain a lead after going 10–8 against the Spartans before MSU was able to put a stop on their scoring streak. The Spartans gained their lead back and closed out the second loss for the ‘Cats at 25–20.
The Wildcats closed out the match with a hitting percentage of 0.168 with 36 kills, 35 assists, eight aces and two blocks.
Rylin Adams led the squad with 12 kills and one ace, Dani Nay followed with 11 kills and two aces, Sam Schiess tallied 7 kills and one block and Baylee Bodily had 3 kills and one block.
Weber State headed into Saturday searching for their first win of the weekend against the Trailblazers, and like the Wildcats, DSU lost the match 0–2 after falling to both BYU and Michigan State.
The Trailblazers kicked off the match by winning the first set 25–23.
The Wildcats played a game of catch-up after the score hit 10–7 in favor of Dixie State. WSU found a small chance at gaining a lead when the set tied 16–16, but DSU quickly closed out the opportunity before the ‘Cats had a chance.
Headed into the next three sets of the match, the Wildcats didn’t see losing as an option.
Dixie State was able to establish a 4–1 lead before the ‘Cats were able to collect themselves and go on a 24–7 run and close out the second set 25–12.
As the third set came around, the Wildcats were hopeful to see the same fate from the second match, but the Trailblazers had other plans and tied the set at 17.
After a few errors from DSU, the Wildcats were able to stabilize their lead and close the third set 25–22 and had their first lead of the match 2–1.
Headed into their final set, the ‘Cats were ready to close out the tournament on a higher note than how they started.
Weber State blazed past DSU with a lead of 19–9 before the Trailblazer gave their final efforts and fell to the victorious ‘Cats 25–18.
In total, the Wildcats had a hitting percentage of 0.152, 52 kills, 49 assists, seven aces and thirteen blocks.
Nay led the squad with 17 kills, 2 assists and two aces. Adams collected 14 kills and 2 assists, Emma Mangum had 8 kills and four blocks, Schiess had 9 kills and Bodily had 4 kills. Ashlyn Power had 43 assists and two aces.
Weber State hosted Utah Valley University Sept. 8 at Swenson Gym and will travel to Salt Lake City to play against the University of Utah on Sept. 9.
