The Lady Lions volleyball team lost three games in the USU Tournament last week in Logan, Utah. The finale was against Utah State in which the Lady Lions lost three sets to one. Their record is now 1-8.
“I thought we showed some improvement from the previous weekend,” said Head Coach Jim Smoot. “It was probably the toughest competition we have played against, considering that Elyssa Purcell did not play the first two matches because she was really sick. We just got to find a way to pull through and get the victory.”
Injuries have seemed to hinder the team this year and has forced them to make changes to their strategy in each game.
“We have had a few players that haven’t been able to go full 100 percent,” said Smoot. “Landry Bullock is about back. We’re excited that she will be 100 percent because she is obviously our returning all-conference player. Elyssa was really the only player that just couldn’t play that first game, but she came back and she played really well. I expect we will all be 100 percent by conference play.”
Purcell got her second triple-double this season with 12 kills, 12 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore setter Haley Baker led the team with 17 assists and sophomore libero Monica Ramon had 13 digs.
The Lady Lions’ first two matches of the tournament were against Portland State and UC Riverside. They were swept by both teams three sets to none.
“I thought we hung in there,” said Smoot. “We had to run a different offense than we have been running. We were using Haley Baker as the center for the first two matches, but we showed improvement.”
Smoot is considering making some changes to the offensive side as the season progresses.
“We have talked about having to tweak our offense a little,” said Smoot. “We have a unique situation with two left-handed hitters and maybe doing some things will help us take advantage of that. We are going to try to implement that this week, but I think we just have to stay positive.”
The Lady Lions will return to play this Friday at the Stacey Clark Classic to face a few ranked opponents. They will not return to the University Center until Sept. 22 for their first conference game against Lamar.
“That’s obviously gonna be the toughest tournament competition we are gonna face this year,” said Smoot. “Kansas is number 4 and Purdue just beat Stanford last week so it’s going to be tough, but it should be fun and it will give us a good indication of where we are at.”