Another win is in the books as The Warriors defeated rival Barclay College 3-2 on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors gave the fans their money’s today. The Pyramid was full of fans that were wanting to be there to support Esther Schwarze for her Senior Day.
The first set didn’t fare so well for the Warriors. “We struggled with a few of their servers,” stated Head Coach Ashley Spicer. The team started out with multiple errors in the net or out of bounds. Still, the Warriors remained within striking distance as Barclay led 15-14. The Warriors weren’t able to overcome the Bears momentum at the end of the set losing 25-16 going down 0-1 in the match.
In the second set, the Warriors started with the service and gained momentum with some big swings in the front row from Esther Schwarze. Anna Holloway, and Tori Veltkamp both helped control the front line. An uncontested kill from Holloway set the Warriors on fire. The Warriors continued their run before forcing Barclay to call a timeout. The timeout couldn’t slow CU as they were in a huge battle that eventually led to a 27-25 Calvary win.
The third set was another thriller as points went back and forth. Esther Schwarze and Anna Holloway kept the Warriors in the lead with powerful kills as CU held the upper hand in a tight set. Serving was a big boost in this set with Jenny Her getting three important aces during important times to preserve momentum. The Warriors built a 26-25 advantage and got a huge 27-25 win off of a great side-out play.
The Bears came clawing back in the fourth set as they built a large lead 15-5. “We had numerous unforced errors at the net towards the beginning of that set,” stated Spicer. “We didn’t give ourselves much of a chance to fight back when we made unforced errors at the net like that.” Spicer called timeouts and the Warriors had some answers, but momentum went to Barclay and they never relinquished it winning 25-13.
After the humbling fourth set, the Warriors fought hard against Barclay to take a lead coming out in the decisive fifth set. Schwarze started CU off strong in serving. Holloway did a great job on the attack in the final set with six kills and an attack percentage of 42%. The set was extremely close. The Warrior faithful went crazy as Holloway ended some magnificent points with emphatic kills. Holloway finished the match with a kill as the Warriors won 15-13 to win the match 3-2.
“This was a good growth game for us because it did push us,” Coach Spicer said. “Barclay beat us earlier this season. It is always good to turn things around. Jenny had a great match for us, holding our defense together in order to keep our front row in system.”
Anna Holloway and Esther Schwarze led the Warriors with 19 and 9 kills respectively Jenny Her protected the team with 22 digs. The Warriors begin play in The MCCC Tournament next Friday in Haviland, KS.