by Salina, Kans. – The Haskell Indian Nations University women’s volleyball team finished the 2016 LaQuinta Kansas Wesleyan University Invitational with a (2-2) record this weekend. The Haskell lady’s dropped two games on Friday but came back Saturday and picked up two wins, which were their first wins of the season.
Saturday Match 1, Haskell 3, Graceland 1 (25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18)
The young Haskell volleyball team that features four freshman in the starting line-up were very close in the previous day matches in getting their first win of the season, as many of the matches this season have gone into extra points. In the first set, Haskell and Graceland College, out of Iowa, would trade points and have seven ties before freshman Alliyah Richards helped Haskell go on a 5-0 run at the service line. Graceland would battle back to get close but too many errors by the Yellowjackets would allow Haskell to close it out.
Haskell would take the next set as well before dropping the third set. In the fourth and final set, the young team were able to close out Graceland (25-18) to get their first win of the season. Senior middle hitter Aspen Sheperd would finish with 10 kills and freshman Raquel Archie would finish with team highs of 10 kills and 19 digs.
Saturday Match 2, Haskell 3, Southwestern 1 (25-20, 25-13, 26-28, 25-19)
Southwestern led in the first set until the 17-17 mark, then could only watch as Haskell scored the next three points to take a 20-17 lead. The Lady Builders couldn’t recover, and the Haskell claimed the opening set, 25-20. The two teams played point-for-point to open the second set, but the Indians used a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 lead that gave Haskell control of the set. Southwestern could never threaten the Indians in the second set, and Haskell took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-13 second-set decision.
After dropping the third set to Southwestern , a 4-0 Haskell run early in the fourth set proved to be the difference in the match Saturday afternoon. The run broke a 2-2 tie, and gave the Indians a 6-2 lead they never relinquished. Haskell ran away with the fourth set, and secured the match with a 25-19 decision in the final frame. One again Haskell senior Aspen Sheperd led the team in kills with 13 and again true freshnan Racquel Archie wasn’t too far behind with 12 of her own and had 18 digs. Also, other freshman Cailey Lujan and Alliyah Richards each had 8 kills. Ashanti Antonio would finish with a team high 31 digs.
The two wins improves Haskell’s record to (2-5) on the season and Indians will next play on September 9th, when they host their first home match of the season against Sterling College at Coffin Sports Complex. Match is scheduled to start at 6:00 PM CST.
