INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Western Illinois volleyball opened action in the Butler Classic Friday morning (Sept. 7), falling to invitational host Butler, 3-1. The Leathernecks dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-23, earned a third-set victory, 25-21, but fell in set four, 25-19.
"Unfortunately we beat ourselves today," said head coach April Hall. "Our own errors got in the way of our success on the
court against Butler. We found ourselves in a hole more often than not,
and could not dig our way out. We gave sets one and two away, but the team battled back in set three, working our game plan and
setting each other up for success."
Coach Hall discussed the positives that the team could bring out of the Western's loss to Butler.
"Although in the end we did
not come out on top, we need to reflect on the solid performances from
our two seniors, Katie Hosteng and Bridget Murphy, ending the game
hitting .364 and earning 22 digs, respectively."
Similar to last weekend, Samantha Fournier and Katie Hosteng led Western in kills, tallying 17 and 16, respectively.
Fournier also added a team-high two service aces and 11 digs in the match. Hosteng put down her 16 kills with an impressive .364 hitting percentage, and tallied a team-best four blocks.
Sophomore Sarah Fetter finished the match with 45 assists, while adding 12 digs and a block.
Defensively, senior Bridget Murphy continued to keep the ball in play for Western, collecting a team-high 22 digs in the match.
"Today
was a reminder of how important our individual roles effect us as a team," stated coach Hall. "We cannot rely on one person for our success, and tomorrow we will set out to prove that against Indiana and Stephen F. Austin."
The Leathernecks are slated to continue Butler Classic action tomorrow morning when they face Indiana at 10 a.m. CT. Live stats will be available HERE.
