DAY TWO
With victories over both Sam Houston State and Wisconsin-Green Bay Saturday, the Drake Bulldogs took the team championship at the Comfort Suites Sam Houston State Invitational volleyball tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.
Sam Houston ended the event with a 2-2 record, falling in four games to Ball State in the final match of the tournament Saturday night.
Junior Anna Ferguson was named to the All-Tournament team after collecting 39 kills, 11 service aces and eight blocks in the Bearkats' four matches.
Other members of the All-Tournament team were Alana Wittenburg, Mikayla Sims and Angela Bys from the champion Bulldogs squad, Elaina Kakatolis of Ball State, Nikki Hintze of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Bethany Kern from Centenary.
Sam Houston, which defeated both Centenary and Green Bay Friday, started Saturday with a 25-23 25-16 25-17 loss to Drake
Anna Ferguson totaled nine kills and Brittanie Wallace added seven to lead Sam Houston. The first two sets both were close with the Bearkats holding the leading five times in the first set and three times in the second stanza. The match was tied a total of 16 times.
Attack errors hurt the Bearkats with Sam Houston committing 26 compared to Drake's 10. The Bulldogs totaled 33 kills as a team with Sam Houston scoring on 29. Drake also blocked nine Sam Houston attack attempts.
Ball State defeated the Bearkats 25-22 15-25 29-27 25-23 in a tight contest that took almost two hours. There were 22 ties and 10 lead changes during the contest.
Freshman Carli Kolbe led Sam Houston with 14 kills Brittanie Wallace and Haley Thomas each posted seven kills.
Other results from tournament play Saturday:
DRAKE defeats Wisconsin-Green Bay 25-15 28-26 21-25 25-13
Angela Bys totaled 14 kills and Michelle Reidy added 10 to lead Drake to a four-game victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay to earn the team championship at the Comfort Suites SHSU Invitational. The Bulldogs won all four of their matches in the tournament. Green Bay was led by Liesi Tesch with 15 kills and Nikki Hintze with 14.
BALL STATE defeats Centenary 25-13 25-8 25-21
Holding off a Centenary surge in the third set, Ball State picked up its first victory of the tournament with a three-game win over the Ladies. Elaina Kakatolis led the Cardinals with 10 kills. Julie Breivogel added eight. Ball State totaled 39 kills to Centenary's 19.
WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY defeats Centenary 25-15 25-13 25-10
Wisconsin-Green Bay took 59 minutes to hand the Centenary Ladies their third loss of the Comfort Suites SHSU Invitational Saturday morning as the Phoenix won in three sets 25-15 25-13 25-10. Holly Visser totaled 16 kills and Abby Bergsma added 10 to lead UWGB. Briana Kern and Jennifer Kunze each accounted for five Centenary kills. Wisconsin-Green Bay out-pointed the Ladies 53-24 on kills, aces, and blocks, hitting .407 for the match with 43 kills in 91 attempts.
DAY ONE
SAM HOUSTON defeats Centenary and Wisconsin-Green Bay
Junior Anna Ferguson showed she is fully recovered from a knee injury that forced her to 'miss the entire 2007 season as she led Sam Houston to a 2-0 start of the 2008 schedule with a pair of victories on the first day of the Comfort Suites SHSU Volleyball Invitational Friday at Johnson Coliseum.
Ferguson totaled 25 kills in 58 attempts with six blocks for the day as Sam Houston defeated Centenary 25-19 18-25 25-17 25-11 in the afternoon and Wisconsin-Green Bay 25-18 28-26 15-25 11-25 15-8 in the nightcap.
“Gosh it's great to have Anna back in the lineup,” SHSU head coach Brenda Gray said. “She hurt her knee in this tournament last year. She worked so hard over the past months to get back and has returned even stronger.”
The Bearkats showed plenty of offense in both contests.
In the Centenary victory Sam Houston totaled 51 kills in 130 attempts with only 12 errors for a .300 hitting percentage. The Kats out-pointed Centenary 65 to 45. Haley Thomas had 12 kills withCarli Kolbe adding nine, Brittanie Wallace 7 and Jamie Kaleh had four.
In the Wisconsin-Green Bay win, Sarah Hazlewood and Kolbe each totaled 11 kills.
“We've got some things we need to work on but I really like this team,” Gray said. “We're very happy to be 2-0.”
The volleyball invitational continues with five matches Saturday. Sam Houston State plays a 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Other tournament results Friday:
DRAKE defeats BALL STATE 22-25 17-25 25-14 25-20 15-8
Led by Angela Bys who totaled 18 kills, Drake bounced back after losing the opening two sets to win in five games of Ball State in game four of the tournament.
The Bulldogs are 2-0 for the event while Ball State dropped to 0-2.
Ball State was led by Julie Breivogel with 16 kills.
DRAKE defeats CENTENARY 28-26 25-17 25-14
Angela Bys totaled 10 kills and Emily Madden scored eight to lead Drake to a three game victory over Centenary in the first match of the Comfort Suites SHSU Invitational.
Jennifer Kunze led the Ladies with 8 kills.
WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY defeats BALL STATE 32-30 32-30 25-18
Nikki Hintze and Liesl Tesch each totaled 11 kills as Wisconsin-Green Bay fought off a determined Ball State squad to win the second match of the day in three games.
The first set was tied 11 times and the second knotted 20 in a close duel.
Julie Breivogel led the Cardinals with 12 kills.
Day tickets (good for all five matches each day) to the tournament are $10 for adults and $7 for students. Sam Houston State students receive free admission with presentation of their SHSU ID. Kids under 5 are admitted free. The complete tournament schedule
