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Sep. 5, 2009
Volleyball splits on final day of Northern Colorado Classic RELATED
CLICKS: GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado hung right with but couldn't get past ACC-power Miami (Fla.) on Saturday night inside Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. The Bears put up a fight for much of the match, but the Hurricanes were just able to do all the little things that Northern Colorado couldn't and squeezed out a 3-0 win (25-23, 26-24, 26-24) en route to the outright title of the 2009 Hampon Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic. Miami finished the tournament with a 3-0 record after previously getting victories against Eastern Michigan and North Dakota State.The Bears, 1-2 in the event, came in third in the event, behind North Dakota State, which finished 2-1. "I'm pleased with our effort," Northern Colorado coach Lyndsey Benson said. "We knew coming into this season that we were going to play some top teams this season, and that continued here in this tournament, with NDSU last night and Miami tonight. We lost a tough one last night, and now tonight, we were just a few points here or there from knocking off a great ACC team. "We could have been 3-0 and won this tournament, and even though we didn't, we're only going to get better as we play teams like this. We had some matches last year where a match like this was almost too much to handle. That wasn't the case tonight." The Bears (5-3) got 14 kills in the loss from Kenzie Shreeve, who was joined by fellow senior Allison Raguse on the all-tournament team. Senior Breanna VanDerMost keyed Northern Colorado's defensive play with 11 digs, and junior Ashley Lichtenberg was tops among the Bears with three blocks. Freshman Kelley Arnold, who put together the best three-game string of her young career in the tourney, and provided a clear glimpse of a bright future and fixture in the Bears rotation Saturday night with 11 kills, a dig and two blocks. "I'm really happy with the way I played tonight," Arnold said. "We all did a lot of good things out there, we just couldn't get a couple stops when we needed them." Miami's Lane Carico, who finished the tournament with Most-Valuable Player honors, was one of three Hurricanes to finish the match with nine kills, and Ali Becker stonewalled a match-high six blocks. It looked Miami was going to run away with the nightcap match at the outset Saturday night after shooting out to a 7-1 lead in the first set against a shellshocked Northern Colorado squad. The Bears responded right back, though, and got the match square again at 12-12 and held tight for the remainder until falling short in the end. Miami later held a 20-12 advantage in the second set before the Bears roared all the way back to tie the game at 23, only to see the visitors squeak into the intermission with a 26-24 victory. There were no runs by either team in the a back-and-forth third set that saw Miami finish off the tourney with a 26-24 victory. "We were really down a couple times tonight," Benson said, "and I'm really happy with the way the girls responded. I think, after losing like we did last night to North Dakota State, we were trying to hard at times tonight to not lose like that again to Miami. There were just a couple plays that really made the difference, and we were on the wrong end of most of those." NORTHERN COLORADO 3, EASTERN MICHIGAN 0 Raguse had 11 kills and Arnold chipped in with 10 as Northern Colorado took care of business earlier in the day Saturday with a 3-0 win at the Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic. Breanna VanDerMost had a match-high 17 digs in the win, and she was joined by eight other Northern Colorado players with at least one dig in the match. The Eagles hung tough for much of the first two sets Saturday, falling 27-25 in set one and 25-20 in set two. The Bears put the match away with a 25-11 set-three win. 2009 Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic All-Tournament team
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