The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Megan Brownell photojournalist
This past week, gorilla volleyball played another three conference games. They first traveled over the weekend, first to St. Joseph, Missouri on Oct. 14. for a match against Missouri Western University, where they won 3-1. They next went to Warrensburg, Missouri on Oct. 15 to play University of Central Missouri, and lost 0-3. They then returned home on Tuesday Oct. 18., for another match against Newman University, and won 3-0.
“This weekend was a bit of a roller coaster for us…” said graduate student and setter Brianna Richard. “Friday, I think for the most part we came in and did a good job executing our game plan.”
For Friday’s game, PSU came out quick and won set one 25-21. MWSU came back to tie it at 1-1 with a set two win 20-25. PSU then won out, with set three 25-12 and set four 25-22.
From this win, some girls were able to put up great stats. Junior right side Janae Thurston finished with 18 kills, 14 digs, and three assists, graduate student outside hitter Meg Auten with 17 kills, 13 digs, and two assists, sophomore right side hitter Seville Gates had 12 kills, one dig, and two blocks, graduate student libero Marissa Bates had 19 digs and one assist, and lastly Richard finished with three kills, 14 digs, and 48 assists.
With this game, Auten reached a career milestone of 1,000 kills.
After the win, they went on to UCM. They lost set one 23-25, set two 16-25, and set three 18-25.
“Against UCM, we really didn’t do our job executing our game plan, but we just have to shake it off and move on to the next game,” Richard said.
Despite the loss, a few players put up some good stats. Bates finished with 19 digs, graduate student Alexia Miller had 10 kills, two digs, and one block, and Richard with one kill, three digs, two blocks, and 30 assists. With this match, Richard also reached a career milestone with 3,000 assists.
“I think reaching 3,000 career assists reflects heavily on my teammates and I’ve been lucky enough to have these past five years…” Richard said. “I could never do my job without a solid back row or hitters that can produce when they get the ball.”
After dropping against UCM, they came home and jumped back into the win column with a sweep of NU. They won set one 25-22, set two 25-20, and set three 25-13.
Some more great stats were put up as well this match. Richard with two kills, 10 digs, and 39 assists, Bates with 16 digs and one assist, Auten had 10 kills and 10 digs, and Thurston with eight kills, 10 digs, one block, and four assists.
PSU Volleyball will host their last home game and senior night this Oct. 22 at 6:00 p.m.
“This being my last year playing, I don’t think it has hit me yet that I am playing my last home game this weekend…” Richard said. “It really just feels like another week of games, and even though I know it will be emotional Saturday, right now I am focused on putting my best foot forward and preparing for the matchup against a really good Bearcat team.”