THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Sept. 10, 2010) – The Tigers opened
the 2010 campaign at the Cal-Lu-Fornia Invitational, hosted by Cal
Lutheran University, participating in the biggest tournament field
in the country. Sixteen teams gathered on day one, with the
Black and Orange squaring off with West Region opponents UC Santa
Cruz and George Fox. Oxy never found a rhythm in the opening
match, falling in straight sets to the Banana Slugs, but then came
alive to sweep George Fox, finishing the day at 1-1.
In the opening match, UC Santa Cruz (1-4) was coming off a tough
showing at the Pacific Coast Classic tournament the previous
weekend, and were much more consistent to start the day then the
Tigers. Oxy battled in every set, but to many unforced errors
cost them the win, falling by the final scores of 20-25, 18-25,
21-25.
Five freshmen made their debut for the Black and Orange, led by
Stephanie
Gann, who hammered home 11 kills. Jessie
Altman dished out 11 assists while Aly Fritz notched 5 kills of her own to go with 4.5 total
blocks. Rounding out the new faces for Oxy was
Alyssa
Mort who came up with 4 kills and 2.5 total blocks and
Madyson
Cassidy who led the team with 16 digs.
Megan
Upp led the Tigers with 17 assists as Oxy used 13
players in the opening match, hoping to find a combination that
would slow down UCSC.
In her final season opener, Kathryn
Bockmon helped the defense with 10 digs and 1 service
ace. Returning All SCIAC outside hitter Logan
Boyer-Hayse picked up right where she left off a year
ago, leading all attackers with 12 kills to go along with 7
digs.
Offensively the Tigers (0-1) played well, but 12 hitting errors,
6 service errors, and 9 blocking errors was to much to
overcome.
The young Tigers, who start 7 underclassmen in their 9 player
rotation, had to regroup quickly as they faced George Fox (3-3) in
a back to back matchup.
In the second match of the day, the Black and Orange did a much
better job of controlling their side of the net, led by
Boyer-Hayse and Gann who combined for 10 kills in the opening
frame, the Tigers rolled to a 25-18 win. Oxy held that
momentum during the side change, sprinting to a 20-12 lead in set
two, and a few points later a 2-0 match lead.
The third set was the closest, as the Bruins held a three point
lead for most of the game, as the George Fox defense began
frustrating the Tigers, slowing down the outside attack of
Boyer-Hayse and Gann, but Fritz stepped up with 3 kills in the
final moments to help the Tigers (1-1) secure the 25-18, 25-18,
25-20 win.
Fritz finished with a match high .545 kill efficiency (7 kills
– 1 hitting error – 11 attempts) while Boyer-Hayse led
all attackers with 12 kills and 4 aces. Altman finished with
a match high 31 assists and Cassidy led the Tigers with 16
digs.
Oxy travels back to Cal Lutheran University on Saturday morning
to face 2009 NCAA participant Chapman University at 10:30am
followed by a 3pm tilt with Willamette University to closeout the
tournament.
