TOPEKA — The Pittsburg State University volleyball tea split a pair of matches Friday (Sept. 1) to open the season at the Washburn University Invitational. The Gorillas debuted with a 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-16, 25-14) win over Western State College and followed with a 3-1 setback (25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 20-25) against Missouri-St. Louis.
First game jitters had both teams committing errors early in the first set. PSU ended the first set on a pair of errors by Western State to take a 25-19 victory.
Mia Bledsoe led the team early with three kills. After coming up short the second set the Gorillas came back swinging starting the third set with a 4-0 lead. PSU offense took charge in the third set tallying 12 kills as a team and ending the set on a kill from Noelle Dooley.
The Gorillas were all in charge the fourth set with a 11-1 lead early, taking advantage of errors by Western State to take the fourth set and match 25-14.
Lauren Regier lead the offense with 15 kills on 22 attempts followed by Erika Ivkov with 8 kills.
Later in the day, UMSL's strong offense late in the match pushed the Tritons past the Gorillas to win in four sets.
The first set was back-and-forth between both teams, Noelle Dooley led the offense with 7 kills helping the Gorillas win the first set 25-22. A slow start in the second set forced Coach Gomez to call an early timeout, shifting momentum for the Gorillas tieing up the game 6-6.
PSU was unable to hold their late lead in the second to fall 23-25. Too many errors late in the third set created a deficit the Gorillas couldn't overcome falling short 25-19. Defensive efforts from Lauren Maisberger and Raven Lawlor -- both with 20 digs -- were not enough to stop the Tritons from pulling ahead in the end of the fourth set. Junior rightside hitter Lauren Regier enjoyed another strong outingm tallying 19 kills for the match.
The Gorillas will be back in action Saturday (Sept. 2) at 9 a.m. against East Central (Okla.) University., followed by a fourth and final match at 1:30 p.m. against Arkansas Tech.
