Women's Volleyball 9/26/2012 12:14:00 AM

Volleyball Cruises Past OLLU

Box Score LAREDO, Texas – Freshman middle blocker Paige Criss set career highs with eight kills and a .800 attack percentage Tuesday, as TAMIU volleyball won their fifth straight match in a 3-0 sweep (28-26, 25-16, 25-23) over our Lady of the Lake University at the TAMIU KCB.

The Dustdevils (8-6, 1-3 HC) hit .240 as a team and committed only 13 errors while outmuscling the Saints by a 9.5-3 margin in blocks. Sophomore Alex Ciszek posted 12 kills on 30 attempts with two assists, two aces, and five digs. Senior Daria Winckler recorded her team leading eighth double-double of the season with 31 assists and 10 digs. Winckler also finished with seven kills on 16 attempts for a hitting percentage of .438.

“After we struggled a bit at the start of the season we’ve been playing with a chip on our shoulders,” said Criss. “This energy has been building up since the Pace tournament and we had to fight and get a win at home.”

“It’s nice to see Paige get rewarded with a nice night,” said Head Coach Marlon Sano, “She works very hard as do Jackie and Tori and it hasn’t shown up in the numbers, but that doesn’t reflect how much effort they’re all putting in. They’re all continuing to get better as we incorporate them more and more into our game plan.”

In the opening set TAMIU jumped out in front 10-5, before OLLU used a 9-1 run to grab a 15-11 lead. The Dustdevils responded with a 10-4 run highlighted by consecutive kills by Ciszek, who finished with five kills in the set, to reclaim the lead 21-19. After trading points TAMIU won four of the last five to secure the win 28-26.

In set two the Dustdevils hit .407 as a team, led by Goods and Criss who combined for nine kills. After storming out to a 10-4 lead, a few TAMIU miscues allowed the Saints to fight their way back to a 15-15 tie. OLLU struggled down the stretch committing five errors and the Dustdevils closed the game on a 10-1 run to win 25-16.

Tied at 12 in the final set, TAMIU went on a 5-0 run before OLLU answered with a 9-4 run to grab a 23-22 lead. Criss tied the set 23-23 with a timely kill, Matula and Pratt registered a huge block, and Desiree Ortiz aced the Saints defense to cap a 3-0 run and give TAMIU the match with a 25-23 win.

Coach Sano says he was glad to finally be back at home, and thanked the fans for their support.

“We were so appreciative of the crowd and everything they brought. This is one of the toughest places to play in the conference and you could feel their energy tonight

The Dustdevils will now hit the road for a three game road trip starting with Oklahoma Panhandle State on September 29, followed by matches versus Arkansas Fort-Smith and Newman.

“Over the last week we asked the girls to look at video and analyze what we did wrong early in the season,” said Coach Sano. “We can see on the court that we are starting to grasp our concepts and gain confidence in what we do and why we do it. We feel like Saturday’s match is winnable, but like always we are more concerned with how we are playing… if we take care of that the product will come.”

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