CANYON, TEXAS—The season-opener for the Adams State University women's volleyball team didn't go as planned for the Grizzlies.
 
West Texas A&M, which is hosting a tournament this weekend, beat ASU 25-15, 25-15, 18-25, 25-22. St. Edward's tripped up Adams State 25-27, 26-24, 25-18, 25-20 to close out the first day of a two-day tournament Sept. 3 at First United Bank Center.
 
Game 1: WTAMU 3, ASU 1
 
Sal Collins and Shannon Mulkey led Adams State with eight kills. Cindy Garcia had three of the squad's nine aces in the match. Bailey Schlosser had 22 of ASU's 27 sets. Blair Moreland led the Thunder with 17 kills, and Kayla Elliott was close behind with 15.
 
The Thunder took command of the opening set by scoring 11 of 15 points in one stretch. Torrey Miller had two of her 12 kills, and Elliott added two of her own. West Texas also took advantage of three straight attack errors to open their spurt.
 
The second set started on even terms. Garcia had two aces, Mulkey had an ace, and Collins followed that with a kill as ASU and West Texas A&M split the first 18 points. But West Texas A&M put together a seven-point rally. The Thunder spread out the offense during the spurt. Elliott had two of her kills. Samantha Jordan contributed two kills as well. The Thunder also were the beneficiaries of a couple of errors at the net by the Grizzlies.
 
The third set started in the same fashion as the second. A couple of hitting errors let the Grizzlies jump out to a 12-9 lead, but the two teams eventually split the first 26 points. Alexandra MacAskill one kill to give ASU a bit more breathing room at 16-14. Collins added a kill off a Schlosser assist. She also set up Chasey Blach for a key spike that gave the Grizzlies a 21-16 lead.
 
Statistically, the fourth set was Adams State's strongest. ASU's hitting percentage was a match-best .194, and it reflected in the set score. Adams State forged a four-point lead when Mulkey took a set from Schlosser and pounded it down for a winner. Collins took a set from Schlosser and put it away to give the Grizzlies a 17-16 lead. But three straight errors at the net gave the Thunder the lead for good.
 
Adams State started slow against the Thunder. The team hitting percentage in the first two sets was below zero. Adams State turned things around in the last two sets. The hitting percentage was .111 in the third set, the only set ASU won. The percentage picked up even more in the fourth set, when the Grizzlies compiled a match-high 13 kills.
 
GAME 2: SEU 3, ASU 1
 
In the second game, Mulkey led the Grizzlies with 12 kills and a hitting percentage of .233. Sai Collins added 11 kills, and Chasey Blach had 10 kills in 23 chances.
 
Kaitlyn Krafka paced the Hilltoppers with 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .243. Lauren Scott had 12 kills and a higher hitting percentage (.304). Maya Smalls and Lourdes Gomez had 11 kills.
 
There wasn't a lot of breathing room in the opening set for either team. Adams State's biggest lead was three points. Smalls took a pass from Emily Tran and pounded one to give St. Edward's a 21-18 lead, its biggest of the first set.
 
Adams State called a timeout, then ran off four points in a row. Bailey Schlosser, who finished with 39 assists, contributed two kills, and two Hilltoppers' attack errors composed the surge. ASU scored the last three points of the set, thanks to one of Mulkey's kills and a pair of attack errors.
 
The second set almost mirrored the first. St. Edwards' biggest advantage was three points (23-20) after Smalls took a set from Tran and produced one of her 11 kills in the match. ASU used an attack error and one of Mulkey's 12 kills to forge a 24-all tie. Scott's kill gave the Hilltoppers the lead for good, and an error at the net wrapped up the second set in favor of St. Edwards.
 
The Hilltoppers opened the third set by scoring 14 of the first 20 points. Sierra Leone Sanchez had an ace midway through the run, and Maddi Brown concluded the surge with an ace of her own. Schlosser's set and Collins' kill brought the Grizzlies to within 20-13. But the Hilltoppers ran off three points in a row to keep ASU at bay.
 
In the fourth set, the Grizzlies spread the offense around and took an early 8-4 lead. Collins and Blach's play at the net, plus a pair of Hilltoppers' errors, prompted a St. Edward's timeout. After the break, SEU outscored ASU 11-2. Krafka contributed a couple of kills, as did Swan.Collins did her best to keep the Grizzlies in the match. Her back-to-back kills brought Adams State to within 21-19. But after a Hilltoppers' timeout, Gomez had a kill, and Adams State made three attack errors to close out the match.
 
ASU's hitting percentages by set were much stronger than the tournament opener against West Texas A&M. The Grizzlies had 62 total kills and a hitting percentage of .234.
 
UP NEXT
The Grizzlies will return to action on Saturdy at 9:00 a.m. when they take on the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith close out the BritKare Lady Buff Classic at 2:00 p.m. when they take on the University of Texas-Permian Basin.