To open the Drury University Invitational, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team got outperformed and outplayed as they lost three straight sets to Drury University. CMU had a .091 hitting percentage on Thursday and 19 hitting errors throughout the contest, as their own errors seemed to be their downfall.
The Panthers scored the first points of the game with the Mavericks answering with the two points of their own, but they failed to gain the momentum as DU went on an impactful five-point run. CMU failed to respond to the early lead that the Panthers took as couldn’t stem together more than one two-point swing and DU ran away with the first set 25-14.
The Mavericks came out swinging in the second set despite giving up the first two points of the set, CMU stayed right with DU as they were only down by two until Drury’s 18th point. After the Panthers scored, they went on a four-point swing and firmly took control of the set. The Mavericks did answer with two points of their own before Drury ended the set with three consecutive scores.
CMU started the third set out the way they wanted to as they scored the first three points, but Drury was soon caught up and had the lead again. Eventually, the Mavericks were behind 8-10 and they gave their everything to try and claw back into the game, but the Panthers pulled away like they had been all game. In the blink of an eye, DU had a 20-11 lead, and the Mavericks just couldn’t get back into the game as they lost the final set 16-25.
CMU was led by Kasie Gilfert in kills as she had nine, followed by Camille Smith with six. Ara Norwood was one of the bright spots for this team as she racked up 13 assists in the contest.
The Maverick’s next set games will be on Saturday, September 13 at 8 a.m. against Truman State University and at 4 p.m. against #18 Northwest Missouri State University.
