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Box Score 2 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In Friday evening's opening matches at the Mizuno Colorado Classic hosted by Colorado College, the Bridgewater Eagles volleyball team dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions to Williamette and the 17th ranked Tigers of Colorado College.
Bridgewater fell behind early in Friday's opener with the Bearcats before falling by a 3-0 tally. Williamette scored the first three points of the first set before running out to a 6-1 lead, which was a margin the Eagles couldn't overcome. The Eagles got to within two points, 7-5, early in the set off of a Katie Long attack, a service ace by Nikki Snyder and an Abby Mills kill, but Williamette broke the surge with a kill before rattling off three points in a row to force an Eagles timeout. The Bearcats would eventually take set number one by a 25-15 tally.
In the second set of the contest, the Eagles capitalized on a few Williamette miscues to run out to an early advantage. A Long kill put the Eagles out in front by a 3-1 tally early in the set while a kill from Megann Grimes and a Mara Hogan service ace later pushed Bridgewater out to a 6-3 lead. The two teams traded points with the Eagles owning a 9-5 advantage before the momentum shifted and the Bearcats capitalized on Bridgewater's miscues to tie the set at 10 points each.
The second set seesawed back and forth with the teams continuing to trade points, with the score being tied at 14-14 before Williamette used a number of Bridgewater miscues to run away with the set. A Sarah Fincher kill broke the 14-all stalemate before a pair of Eagles miscues allowed the Bearcats to gain a cushion with a 17-14 lead. A Bearcats error allowed the Eagles to draw to within two points before another Fincher kill and a series of Eagles miscues led to five straight Williamette points and a 22-16 Bearcats lead. The set would eventually end with Williamette claiming a 25-17 victory.
Early in set number three the Eagles again used a number of Williamette errors to jump out in front of the Bearcats by a 5-2 tally. Back-to-back kills from the swing of Long maintained Bridgewater's three-point advantage at a 12-9 score, before the Eagles were able to work the lead to 14-10 in the middle of the set. The Bearcats drew the Bridgewater lead to 14-12 before kills from Long and Maddy Carter and a service ace from Chelsea Owensby put the Eagles out in front by a 17-12 gap, forcing a Williamette timeout.
Out of the stoppage, the Bearcats used a service ace and a pair of Bridgewater errors to draw the set to a two-point margin, 17-15, before the Eagles rattled off three unanswered points of their own to own a 20-15 lead later in the set.
With a five-point lead late in the set, the Eagles succumbed to a number of attack errors as the Bearcats eventually overcame the deficit to take the third and final set by a 25-23 margin.
Bridgewater struggled offensively in the match with 23 attack errors. Long led the Eagles attack with 10 kills and a .340 attack percentage against the Bearcats.
Hogan led the Eagles defense with 13 digs, while Lindsay Kallam ran the offense with 25 assists in the match.
Fincher led the way for Williamette with 10 kills.
In Friday evening's nightcap, the Eagles again struggled on the offensive side of the net and couldn't overcome a balanced Tigers offense in a 3-0 loss.
Both teams traded points early in the set before a Tigers attack error and a Snyder service ace allowed the Eagles to jump out to a 5-3 advantage. The two teams again traded points with the set being knotted up at eight points each before the Tigers took four of the next five points to build out a 12-9 lead. Long pounded down a kill to draw the set to a 12-10 differential before back-to-back Colorado College kills gave the 17th-ranked Tigers a 14-10 lead, forcing a Bridgewater timeout.
Out of the stoppage, a Maddy Carter kill brought the Eagles to within three points but it was as close as Bridgewater would get as the Tigers eventually pulled away to a 25-14 victory.
In the second set, the Tigers capitalized on a pair of Bridgewater miscues and two kills to run out to a 4-0 lead early in the set. The Tigers owned a 6-1 advantage before the Eagles responded with a big run to take the lead. Three Colorado College errors, followed by a Grimes kill, another Tigers error and a Long kill propelled the Eagles to a 7-6 lead. Bridgewater built its lead to two points, 11-9, off of a Rachel Donaldson kill but the Eagles would hand the lead back to the host Tigers with three straight errors as Colorado College took a 12-11 lead. Both teams traded leads back and forth in a seesaw battle before Grimes pounded down three straight kills to put the Eagles in front, 18-16, forcing the Tigers to use a timeout.
Out of the timeout, it was the Tigers going on the attack, taking nine of the next 11 points to earn the victory in set number two by a 25-20 tally.
Bridgewater again ran out to an early lead in the third set, with an Ashley Weik service ace handing the Eagles an 8-5 lead in the early goings of the set. The Eagles maintained their three-point lead off of a kill from Kristen Trice before the Tigers stormed back to take the lead at a 13-11 margin, courtesy of an Eagles attack error. A Grimes kill drew Bridgewater to within one point at a 13-12 margin before the Tigers ripped off eight unanswered points to run away with the set. Colorado College took the set by a 25-17 score to take home the victory.
Grimes led the attack with 10 kills on a .231 attack percentage in the second match of the day. Kallam dished out 19 assists, while Owensby and Hogan tallied 14 digs each in the loss.
Three players led a balanced Tigers attack with nine kills each.
Bridgewater will tangle with Lakeland College in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader to wrap up the tournament. The Eagles play Lakeland at high noon before meeting up with the Muskies again at 2 p.m. in a matchup for third place.
