Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
PITTSBURG, Kans. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team closed out day 1 of the 2022 Gorilla Classic at Pittsburg State University. The Blossoms played just three sets in the first match, falling to the University of Mary, and are taken down by Cameron University in four nail biting sets in game two.
UAM closes out the first day of the tournament with a season record of 2-4 after the day.
Match 1
The opening set with the University of Mary began with the Marauders scoring first to gain an early lead. The Blossoms were resilient, coming back and keeping the match within one point for the first quarter of the set. Mary found a wave of offensive power, stringing together a handful of rallies to take a dominating 20-8 lead over the Blossoms. Although UAM would find a 6-0 run, the set would eventually come to and end with a 25-19 loss.
In the second set UAM was the first team to score, but would quickly lose the lead as the Marauders took back three points. Mary would go on another 4-0 run, but would be met with a 5-0 run from the Blossoms to tie the match at 9-9. Even with their will to win, Arkansas-Monticello was unable to keep a lead over the opposing team, losing set two 25-19.
The third set began with both Mary and Arkansas-Monticello going back and forth to a 4-4 score. The Marauders began to pull away as the match went on and the Blossoms were unable to claw their way back as the set and match would come to a close with a final score of 25-17.
Jasmine Welton led the Blossoms in kills with seven.
Kalin Duncan contributed 15 assists in the match.
Defensively, the Blossoms were led by Holiday Ellis with 10 digs.
Match 2
In the second match of the day UAM took on Cameron University, coming out with a loss in four nail biting sets.
The Aggies were the first team to score in the Blossoms’ second match-up of the day, putting up an immediate 4-0 lead over UAM. UAM fought back, following up with a 3-0 rally of their own. The remainder of the set was a neck and neck match-up as both teams refused to let the other team gain more than a proper lead. UAM was the first to take the next step, pushing ahead of the Aggies to a 16-12 lead. Cameron struck back with a couple of rallies; one of which being a 6-0 run to retake the lead at 21-18. The remaining points of the game still showed it was anyone’s match, but eventually went the Aggies’ way as they would win 25-23.
Set two began in the complete opposite direction from the first as UAM jumped ahead to a 6-3 lead thanks to a handful of kills from Riley Krenek and Holiday Ellis. The set continued with a tight score until the Blossoms added six straight points, extending their lead to 15-9. In the end, UAM held off the Aggies, winning the second set 25-23 and tying the match at 1-1.
The third set and fourth sets were very similar as both teams refused to let the other run away with the match. Unfortunately Cameron was able to best the Blossoms 25-23 in both sets, bringing the conclusion of the match to a UAM loss of 3-1.
Offensively, Holiday Ellis led the Blossoms in kills with 17, followed by Jamie Agnew, Riley Krenek, and Camryn McGough, who each had 11, 11, and 10 kills of their own.
Kalin Duncan led the team in the assist category again dishing out 45.
On defense, Holiday Ellis also led the team in digs with 21, followed by Kalin Duncan with 20.
UP NEXT
UAM returns to the court on Saturday, September 3 for day 2 of the Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic Tournament. The team takes on tournament host Pittsburg State at 11:30 a.m. for game 1 and New Mexico Highlands University at 4:30 p.m. for their final game of the tournament.
Live stream and live stat links will be posted as clickable links on the UAM Volleyball schedule at uamsports.com.
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