ATHERTON, Calif. – The inconsistent play of a weekend ago seemed like a distant memory as Lady Argo volleyball cruised through the first day of the Menlo Tournament with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) sweep of host Menlo College and a second 3-0 (25-13, 15-14, 25-10) sweep of Johnson & Whales. Just a week after committing 39 hitting errors in one match against Grand View, the Lady Argos had 21 errors in the two games combined.
 
"I thought we handled a very tiring travel schedule with a lot of  maturity  today. We faced the tournament host with a big crowd to start and had the poise to win in straight sets," Head Coach Arunas Duda said. "We are starting to find a rhythm and are having a lot of fun."
 
The team's rhythm was apparent almost immediately. While the first set was close most of the way thanks in part to some Lady Argo service errors, UP's mistake free hitting was hard to ignore. The team didn't have one attacking error in the set, and eventually, that consistency led to UP winning 8 of the last 10 points in the set.
 
Mistake free hitting continued to define the next two sets, with the Lady Argos finishing the match with a hitting percentage of .435 and just 6 hitting errors.
 
While the  team's  attacking was accurate it was all the other elements of the game helped the team to a clean sweep. Of the Lady Argo's 75 total points, only 35 came from kills, while 7 came from blocks, and 12 came from aces.
 
Service aces have been a particular strength for the Lady Argos. In the team's most recent previous match, a 3-0 sweep of The Evergreen State College, the team had 13 kills which was the program's highest total since 2012. They followed that up with 12 aces against Menlo include a career high of 6 aces from freshman defensive specialist Maddie Link.  
 
Link has come on particularly strong in the last few weeks. Not only did she lead UP with her 6 aces but she also led the team in digs, with 6. Fellow freshman Sydney Andersen led the Lady Argos in total points (11), kills (9), and block assists (4).
 
The second match of the day was significantly more dominant for the Lady Argos, but also a bit sloppier. After hitting over .370 in each set of the day's first match, the team hit .269 in the set 1 against Johnson & Wales and .029 in set 2.
 
That was the bad news. The good news was that UP's defense had the Wildcats even more out of sorts. JWU's hitting percentages through the three sets were .000, -.135, and .000.
 
Junior Melissa Gonzalez led the Lady Argos in kills with 11. The Lady Argo's kills leader on the season, freshman Sydney Andersen, tied for her lowest kill total of the season with 6, but those came in an incredibly efficient manner as she finished the match with no errors and a hitting percentage of .600.
 
Link had another strong game with 9 digs and another 2 aces. She wasn't the team's dig leader, however. That honor went to senior setter Dani Norling who had her second double-double of the year with 20 assists and 11 digs.
 
UP's record improves to 10-3 on the year with the two wins. The team will play two more matches in California with contests against San Diego Christian College at 10 a.m. and Providence Christian College at 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 2.