Box Score GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Ark.-Fort Smith advanced to the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight after defeating the No. 7 Colorado Mesa volleyball team 3-1 Sunday (Nov. 23).
Neither team could create much separation in the opening set with the stats nearly identical. Fort Smith got out to an early lead, but Mesa would tie it at 13. Neither team
would lead by more than two points the remainder of the set. With the score tied at 24, Michelle Walker recorded a kill for UAFS, before the match ended on a block error by CMU.
The second set was just as close as the first with six lead changes and 10 ties. The Mavericks held UAFS to a team-low .136 attack percentage to win 25-21.
Abby Ney recorded seven of her 12 kills in the set.
The CMU offense struggled in the third set hitting .026 with eight kills and seven errors. Fort Smith tallied 16 kills to win 25-17.
Emily Tripp tallied 10 of her match-high 31 digs to lead UAFS from start to finish in the fourth set. Fort Smith tallied 16 kills compared to nine for Colorado Mesa to win 25-19.
The Lady Lions recorded 99 digs in the match. Katarina Krstonosic finished with 17, and Melissa Goncalves added 14.
Melissa Hess and
Abby Ney each earned All-South Central Regional Tournament honors finishing with 14 and 12 kills respectively.
Tiffany Petersen was also named to the all-tournament team leading the Mavericks with 28 digs.
Erin Perez had 21 digs, and
Kricket Adleman had 13.
Fort Smith hit .181 in the match, and Colorado Mesa hit .137
Colorado Mesa finished the season with a 29-4 record.
South Central Regional TeamJasmyn Brown – Tarleton State
Katie Covell – Tarleton State
Lauran Bevan – West Texas
Lexie Davis – West Texas
Melissa Hess – Colorado Mesa
Tiffany Petersen – Colorado Mesa
Abby Ney – Colorado Mesa
Katarina Krstonosic – Ark. – Fort Smith
Jessica Anderson – Ark. – Fort Smith
Payton Hamilton – Ark. – Fort Smith
Bailey Katzfey – Ark. – Fort Smith
Emily Tripp – Ark. – Fort Smith
