ALAMOSA, Colorado — Adams State falls in a back-and-forth home match against Westminster in 5 sets, 3-2. The tough loss puts the Grizzlies at a record of 3-8 (0-2 RMAC).
Today's match was a story of two halves over the 5 set match, as the Grizzlies were able to jump out to a quick 2-0 set lead before unfortunately dropping the last three sets of the match, leading to a 3-2 set loss against Westminster. In the first two sets, the Grizzlies truly dominated, taking the first set of the match by a score of 25-18 and the second set by a score of 25-22. Sadly, the Grizzlies' momentum did not carry into the third set of the match as Westminster took all of the momentum, winning by a score of 25-16. Once Westminster had the momentum, they never gave it back, taking the fourth set by a score of 25-23 and taking the final set of the match by a score of 15-13.
Overall, the Grizzlies handled most statistical categories, leading the match in kills, total attacks, hitting percentage, assists, and digs. Ultimately, what cost the Grizzlies today's match was their serving errors and their attack errors. The Grizzlies had a total of 6 serving errors and 35 attacking errors, which were dramatically more than Westminster, which only had 2 serving errors and 27 attacking errors. Without the errors in the match, the Grizzlies would have been able to take today's match, but Westminster was able to take advantage of the Grizzlies' mistakes to take today's match.
Individually, today, the Grizzlies are led by Hadleigh Richardson, Katie Bauer, and Olivia Lunt. Richardson was again the leading force for the Grizzlies as she led the Grizzlies in points scored with 24, kills with 21, blocks with 3, while also having 15 digs on the match. Helping Richardson lead the way for the Grizzlies were Bauer and Lunt, who were tied for second-most points in the game with 16.5 points. Diving deeper into Bauer and Lunt's individual performances, Bauer had 13 kills, which was third for the Grizzlies, while leading the Grizzlies in hitting percentage at 55.6%. Bauer also had 1 of only 2 serving aces for the Grizzlies and was second in blocks behind Richardson with 2.5 blocks on the match. Bauer truly had an all-around great game, helping the Grizzlies in a multitude of different areas. Looking at Lunt's individual day, she had 16 kills in the game, which was second on the team, while also recording a hitting percentage of 31.4%.
Today's match, although disappointing, was a match that the Grizzlies can build on going into their third straight home match next week against New Mexico Highlands. The match against New Mexico Highlands will be another RMAC match and will give the Grizzlies an opportunity to win their first RMAC match of the year and get them on a solid roll before they hit the road after their third straight home match. Next week's match will be played on Tuesday, September 23rd, at 6 PM MST. This will be a great opportunity to come support the Grizzlies before they hit the road later in the week when they go to Golden, Colorado, to face Colorado School of Mines.
