BELLEVUE, Neb. - CIU volleyball headed to the Midwest on Friday to compete in the GoSarpy.com Labor Day Classic hosted by Bellevue Univeristy (Neb.). Day one of the Classic was notable as the Rams (7-4) knocked off No. 14 Montana Tech (4-4) in five sets. The win is CIU's first win all-time against an opponent ranked in the NAIA top 15. The Rams then cruised to a sweep in match two of the afternoon versus Valley City State (N.D.).
MATCH ONE: CIU 3 Montana Tech 2 (27-25, 16-25, 29-27, 23-25, 15-11): It was tightly contested with the Orediggers from the onset of the first game, which the Rams stole 27-25. CIU held a 2-1 lead and was on the verge of a 3-1 match win before Montana Tech fought back to tie the match at 2-2. The Rams outplayed the Orediggers in the fifth and final set as CIU picked up their first NAIA Top 25 win of the season.
Mardi Scutchings exploded for 20 kills and three blocks in the match. Reigning Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Attacker of the Week,
Kira Rymer tallied 19 kills to go along with five blocks. CIU's setters
Melissa Campos Soto and
Kamelia De Jesus combined for a whopping 58 assists as Campos Sotos recorded 28 and De Jesus picked up 30. Three players reached double-digit digs as Compos Soto had 14,
Kelcey Mangum had 25, and
Alana Sanjurjo had a double-double with 12 kills and 24 digs.
MATCH TWO: CIU 3 Valley City State (VCS) 2 (25-17, 25-22, 27-25): Match two was all CIU; despite a valiant effort from the Vikings in the third set, the Rams picked up the sweep. Mardi Scutching again led the Rams in kills in match two with 14.
Kelcey Mangum and
Alana Sanjurjo each recorded 17 digs, while
Katie Nichols added ten digs and four blocks. Elsewhere defensively,
Lydia Gustafson had a season-high seven blocks helping hold the Vikings to a .135 hitting percentage. On the offensive side,
Kamelia De Jesus and
Melissa Campos Soto combined for 37 assists.
What Coach Haver is saying: "Proud of this group. After a cross country flight and a tough schedule, we set some goals and they are working extremely hard to meet them. Really special to see our team compete against this level of competition. Winning a five-set match against the No. 14 team in the country in a grueling two-and-a-half-hour match and then in a very short turnaround, pulling off a sweep proved that we can continue to do big things. The volleyball was excellent today, the teamwork and grit was even better. We have more tough competition tomorrow and we are looking forward to it.
Up Next: The Rams will continue play at the GoSarpy.com Labor Day Classic on Saturday, Sept. 3 with matches versus No. 12 Bellevue (1 PM) and Indiana Tech (3 PM). All match times are Central Time.
