The Weber State University volleyball team lost its last home game for this season against California State University, Sacramento 3-1. For seniors Caitlin Penrod, Dama Cox and Laurel Bodily, this was the last game they will ever play in the Swenson Gym.
“Those senior girls will be very missed,” said Tom Peterson, head coach. “It’s not just because they are good volleyball players, but it’s because of who they are as people.”
The first set was a battle between the CSUS Hornets and the Wildcats. The lead changed six times and the score was tied at 18. The Wildcats came out victorious, winning the first set 26-24. Rebecca Fuchs and Cox each had five kills in the first set.
“We really struggled with serve-receive,” Cox said. “We couldn’t get a pass. I felt in the last three games our communication was down and we couldn’t get a pass to run the quicks, and we had to force it to our outsides and they kept getting trapped.”
The Wildcats lost the second set 25-20. The Hornets jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and kept that lead throughout the set. CSUS commanded the third set as well, defeating the Wildcats 25-16.
“We just went downhill fast,” Penrod said. “We came out really strong and we were really hyped, but they started pushing back and we started struggling with passes and let them go on runs and we didn’t reciprocate.”
The Wildcats lost momentum in the fourth set, falling 25-18. WSU ended the game with 43 kills, 30 errors, 39 assists, 44 digs and 12 team blocks. CSUS finished the game with 45 kills, 24 errors, 44 assists, 55 digs and nine team blocks.
“That is the best blocking team in our conference, and we outblocked them 12-9,” Peterson said. “So that’s a neat accomplishment for us.”
Cox had the team high of 10 kills against CSUS. Fuchs and Piper Wahlin each added nine. Penrod had 35 of the team’s 39 assists. She also had the team high of 13 digs.
The Wildcats will now hit the road to finish off their season against Portland State University and Eastern Washington University this weekend.
“We’re just going to work on going hard and going all out and giving it our all,” Cox said. “We want to get these last two wins no matter where the teams we play are in the ranking. Hopefully we come out passing and blocking.”
