October 3, 2009
Box Game 1 | Box Game 2
Clinton, IA-The GU women’s volleyball squad continues its quality play at Ashford Invite, and defeats Mt. Mercy 3-0 in 1st game of 2nd day in Clinton before following up with a 3-1 victory over William Penn.
Graceland took the first game of the match 25-15 with the same efficiency which they have shown throughout the tournament. Mount Mercy gave the Jackets a very determined fight in game two, forcing the contest into extra play, but were outlasted by the Jackets, who won 28-26.
The final game of the match was also a much closer affair than the first, with the final score 25-23 with Graceland pulling away with the three games to nil advantage to end the match.
"This match was a test of wills," said Coach Stew McDole after the victory. "We see-sawed our way through the second game, and let pull out to an early lead in game three. We showed a lot of character as a team to come back though, because Mount Mercy was a good team with good tools. It just goes to show, I think that there are a lot of very good teams in midwestern NAIA volleyball, and that you have to come prepared to play every match and execute. To be able to put up clutch performance like that and win was a good experience for us," concluded McDole.
Game two of the afternoon put the Jackets up against the other undefeated team in the tournament, the Statesmen of William Penn. Penn, which had a monster tourney as well, went into the game with superior statistics in most offensive categories, and Graceland knew going in that the championship would be a formidable test.
Shocking the Statesman with a dominating 25-20 game one performance, the GU women battled Penn in game two. Though he Jackets got out to an early lead, Penn was able to catch them from behind and held off a Graceland rally to win 25-20. The final two games were under Graceland control from the get-go, until in each game the Statesmen put on a rally which took them within one point. But on both occasions, the Jacket women showed their true colors and smothered the danger before Penn could take advantage, resulting in 25-22 and 25-21 wins for Graceland to win the match and the tournament championship.
Seniors Savali Ta'amu (Seattle, WA) and Molly Cornelison (St. Charles, IA) were named to the All-Tournament Team, as was freshman Kaylee Miller (Blue Springs, MO), who was also named tournament MVP.
"We knew that we would have to platform and serve well in order to beat Penn," said Coach McDole. "We executed our game very well against a very good opponent. They made it exciting in both of the last two games, but we pulled away again both times. It was great for us to go in and win all of our games, and to come away with three players on the All-Tournament team was fantastic."
Graceland will return to conference play with their next match, Tuesday, October 7th at Benedictine. That match will be a 7:00 pm start in Atchison, Kansas. Stay tuned to the Jacket athletics website for continuing coverage of the women's volleyball team and all of Jacket athletics.
For More Information on Graceland University Athletics Contact:
Matt Shelton, Sports Information Director
(641) 784-5318
mshelton@graceland.edu
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