September 12, 2009
Box Game 1 | Box Game 2
Lamoni, IA- GU women's volleyball carried the day in the Saturday finale, taking matches from Culver-Stockton in 3 games and Grand View in 5.
The Graceland women carried forward their momentum from last night's contest with Kansas Wesleyan into Day 2 of tourney, checking Culver-Stockton in only 3 games. The Jackets struck hard and early in a morning match-up with the conference rival Wildcats and achieved results of 25-20, 25-11 and 25-21 to start the day off right. The Jackets improved to 2-1 for the weekend, while Culver-Stockton briefly fell to 0-3 before defeating Missouri-Baptist in three games later in the day.
Graceland's second match of the day was a nail biter by comparison, as the Jackets were forced into five games by a surprise rally by the Viking women. In the end, however, GU prevailed 3-2 (25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 17-25, 15-12). The tightly contested game was all about the attack and counter-attack, with the opponents exchanging pairs games in the first four of the match. Any hope of the comeback victory for Grand View was dashed as the Jackets played a very strong fifth game to save the win.
Graceland senior Savali Ta'amu (Seattle, WA) continued to show the high level of play which she has maintained all year, and was selected to 11-member All-Tournament Team as Graceland's sole representative. The team, at 3-1 for the weekend, finished fifth out of the eleven teams at the GU Pizza Shack Invitational.
"After losing to Taylor, it became our goal to win out, and go 3-0 for the rest of the tournament," said Coach Stew McDole. "We were dedicated to doing so and got on track against Kansas Wesleyan. We didn't match up very well with them and so didn't play as well as we wanted to or could have," he said of last night's victory.
Coach McDole was pleased with the second day's results, saying: "Culver is a good team, and to take them in three games was very impressive. We really controlled that match the whole way through. We knew that Grand View was going to be very good," he continued, "but we played two great games against them. We should have won in three but we couldn't keep it going, but the team pulled together to win it in five," the coach explained.
"I think it is very telling that we are listed up there [in the tournament results] with those nationally ranked teams, and I think that our showing this weekend will be a great springboard for the rest of the season," concluded Coach McDole.
Graceland will return to conference play on Tuesday, September 15 at home verses Baker. Stay tuned to the Jacket athletics website for continuing coverage of the women's volleyball team and all of Jacket athletics.
For More Information on Graceland University Athletics Contact:
Matt Shelton, Sports Information Director
(641) 784-5318
mshelton@graceland.edu
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