FORT WAYNE, Indiana – Utah Valley State's balanced offensive attack earned the Wolverine volleyball team a two-game split on the first day of the 2003 Division I Independent Tournament held on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The Wolverines dropped their first match of the day to IPFW, but came back to beat the University of Texas-Pan American in three games.
In the second match the play of the outside hitters was superb as the Wolverines swept UT-Pan-American 30-20, 30-26, and 30-28.
Jenny Weed led the way for the Wolverines with 14 kills while Malia Roberts hit .387 and added 13 kills. Middle blocker
Kassidy Brotherson notched 10 kills, and hit .368.
In the third game of the match the Lady Broncs looked like they would send the match to four games as they led 24-28. But the Wolverines reeled off six straight points to close out the game and the match.
"We were very competitive in the second match. We controlled the play of their best player and played together. It was a great team effort," said head coach
Sam Atoa.
The player that Atoa was referring to was, Jaclyn Muszynski who averages 3.74 kills a game. The Wolverines held Muszynski to a .100 hitting percentage on the match. The Lady Broncs kept going to Muszynski, but she couldn't get into a rhythm as she made 6 errors on her 30 attacks.
In the first match of the day Weed (13), Roberts (11) and Brotherson (10) all had double-digit kills, but the Wolverines were bested in four games 30-28, 31-33, 30-16, and 30-19.
Defending tournament champion IPFW received more then enough help from sophomore middle blocker, Fabiana Souza. The Brazilian hit at a striking .478 clip with 28 kills while adding 11 digs. Lindsay Brammer helped the Mastodon cause with 15 kills and a slugging percentage of .429. Kirsta Solberg and Janelle Pollard chipped in 11 kills apiece.
In the match, the Wolverines were out-hit by the Dons .318 to .203.
In Saturday's double-header the Wolverines will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the morning match and they will comeback to play the University of Northern Colorado in the afternoon match.
