ST. PAUL, Minn. - The schedule didn't get any easier for Truman volleyball on day two of the 2016 season as the Bulldogs continued play in the Concordia-St. Paul tournament. Truman fell to No. 5 Western Washington in straight sets (21-25, 12-25, 18-25) and a dropped a rematch with No. 17 Northern State in four (25-20, 21-25, 21-25, 21-25).
The Bulldogs traveled back home with a record of 0-4 while the Vikings sit at 1-3 and the Wolves improved to 3-1. On the day, Truman's leaders included
Kayla Bastian (23 kills),
Meghan Gasper (39 assists),
Bailey O'Drobinak (3 service aces),
Lauren Wacker (28 digs), and
Natalie Brimeyer (13 blocks).
In the first set of the match against WWU, there were eight ties and six lead changes in the first 27 points scored. For that 27th point, Western Washington got a kill from Abby Phelps to go up 14-13 on the Bulldogs. That came in the midst of an 8-2 run for the Vikings that put them up 19-15. From that point on, Truman was never closer than two points and WWU won the set by four.
Western Washington controlled the second set throughout never allowing the Bulldogs to get any sort of momentum going before the final 13-point margin. In that second game, the Vikings hit a red-hot .349 with 19 kills to just four errors in 43 total attacks. For the third set, Truman led early by a score of 5-2 thanks in part to a pair of kills from
Claire Viviano. Then, WWU rattled off five-straight points to go up 7-5 with its first lead of the set and the Bulldogs burned a timeout.
For the next 15 points, the two teams shared five ties and four lead changes. At that point, Western Washington led 14-13 before stealing all the momentum and ending the set on an 11-5 burst to take the set and the match.
Bastian turned in her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 18 digs, Gasper (17) and
Savvy Hughes (14) each had double-digit assists and Wacker added 11 digs as well.
In the first set for the rematch against Northern State, Truman topped its opponent for the first time this season with a score of 25-20. At one point, the Bulldogs scored seven points in a row as part of a 12-3 spurt to make it 24-18 before match point.
The second set was tied late at 19-19 before the Wolves tallied six of the final eight points to win the set and even the match at 1-1. For sets three and four, Truman was able to tie the score up plenty of times, but never took the lead with Northern State controlling the action.
O'Drobinak, Bastian and
Lacey Hill each had double-digit kills with 14, 13 and 11, respectively. Hughes (24) and Gasper (22) each had 20+ helpers while Wacker (17) and Hughes (12) went over the 10-dig mark.
Next up, the Bulldogs will travel to Indianapolis for the UIndy Tournament on Sept. 9-10. They will take on the likes of Ashland, North Alabama, Saginaw Valley State, and Lock Haven.
