Photo courtesy of Doug Cochran | Meredith Clare (above) was named to the Xavier University All-Tournament team after she tallied 64 digs and 14 assists on the weekend.
Xavier Volleyball placed runner-up in its tournament this past weekend. Thought the host team began play on a sour note by losing to UC in five sets, it was able to recover well.
Against UC, the team kept it close throughout the first two sets, despite losing them 25-20 and 25-22, respectively. In the third and fourth sets, Xavier stormed back to tie the match at two sets apiece, winning by scores of 25-20 and 25-15.
In the fifth set, UC regained its form and managed to take the set and the match by a score of 15-10.
The Musketeers’ next match came against Western Michigan, a team that would beat UC the next day after the match against Xavier. Even though Western Michigan would get a win against the other two teams in the field, it was thwarted by Xavier.
Despite taking the first two sets from Xavier by scores of 25-23 and 25-19, Western Michigan lost the final three games, giving the Musketeers the victory. Xavier managed to take the third set by a score of 25-19 and took the fourth 25-20 to force a decisive fifth set. The final set was close, but Xavier prevailed 15-13, becoming the only team to defeat Western Michigan in the tournament.
Senior Lauren Frilling propelled the team to victory, posting a career high 17 kills. Senior Kristin Massa also had 17 kills along with 17 digs.
The win allowed Xavier to take on Texas State in the finals. However, the match wasn’t very close, as Texas State won all three sets by scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-21.
Although Xavier progressively improved, it wasn’t enough to top a strong adversary.
In the first set, Texas State jumped out to a 19-9 lead before splitting points the rest of the set. The second set was much closer, featuring seven ties and two lead changes before Texas State pulled away. In the third and final set, Xavier went down 17-12 before making a 6-3 run to close the gap to 20-18. Texas State then took the lead for good to take the set and the match.
Redshirt junior Meredith Clare was named to the All-Tournament Team after collecting a total of 64 digs and 14 assists throughout the weekend. She also posted a career-high 32 digs in the loss to Cincinnati.
Xavier resumes play against Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7 in the Georgia Tech Tournament.
By: Donnie Menke ~Staff Writer~