OMAHA, Neb. – The #10 University of Providence volleyball team went 1-1 on the second day of the GoSarpy.com Labor Day Tournament.
The Argos (6-1) defeated McPherson in three sets (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) in their first game before falling to Doane (15-25, 23-25, 18-25) in the later game. The loss to the Tigers (10-1) was the team's first loss of the season.
It took the Argos awhile to get settled in against the Bulldogs (2-4), but once they did, they cruised to a three-set victory.
Jenna Thorne led the attack with 12 kills on a .360 hitting percentage.
Cydney Finberg-Roberts recorded 36 assists, while
Sacha Legros recorded 15 digs.
Zoe Naugle added four blocks defensively.
"They had a couple of really nice players," head coach
Arunas Duda said. "They served tough. They got back to the back line with their jump servers and just bombed away on us. We had a really tough time catching up to the speed of that. But once we did, we were able to settle down and play our game."
The Argos also got off to a slow start against the Tigers. Down 18-6 in the first set, the Argos rallied back to get to 15 points before the Tigers took the first set. After trailing a majority of the second set, the Argos tied it at 23 before dropping the next two points to get in a 2-0 hole. They weren't able to get out, dropping the third set 25-18.
"We had a really slow start," Duda said. "They had really good energy and we struggled to find some. It seemed like everything went wrong for us and right for them and we had a hard time recovering and couldn't slow them down."
Thorne again led the team in kills against the Tigers, recording 12.
Sadie Lott recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. Legros led the way defensively with 13 digs, while Finberg-Roberts recorded 31 assists.
The Argos will have to regroup quickly, as they take on their third Top 10 team of the season, #6 Concordia, tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. MTN in the team's final game of the tournament.
"I'm hoping that it's a wakeup call for us," Duda said. "We'll get our girls ready to go."
