Chris Day
ASC Sports Information
She can now be called Queen Mary.
Adams State College senior setter Mary McNeil now reigns atop the Grizzlies’ NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) career assists chart after she doled out 42 while helping lead the Grizzlies to an important 4-set Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference volleyball win over visiting University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions, Friday night here in Plachy Hall.
McNeil, who also tallied 15 digs, good for her 21st career double-double, now has 3,493 career assists, four more than former Grizzly great Monica Garcia had in her 2001-04 career.
Her record-breaking assist came on a Deprece Washington kill during the fourth and final set of the 25-21, 15-25, 25-16, 25-20 win that improved the Grizzlies to 7-12 overall and to 4-7 in RMAC play. The Mountain Lions fell to 11-9 overall and to 5-6 in conference play and now trail Colorado Christian, which claimed a 5-set win at Western New Mexico, for the eighth and final RMAC Tournament berth by a single match.
The Grizzlies, now winners of three straight at home, are two matches back along with arch-rival Western State.
McNeil’s record-breaking effort was just part of a fine night for the Grizzly squad, which combined for a season-high 16 blocks. Washington, a redshirt freshman middle hitter, was involved in nine of them and also put down 12 kills while hitting .286. Her nine block assists were a career-high.
The Adams State College volleyball team’s four freshman starters on Thursday night put down a combined 33 kills while senior middle hitter Kelsey Miller put down five more while hitting a perfect 1.000 as the Adams State College Grizzlies made quick work of the visiting Chadron State College Eagles.
The Grizzlies, who were starting a critical 5-set match home-stand, hit a season-best .418 as a team and needed just 67 minutes to dismiss the Eagles, 25-11, 25-8, 25-17 in what was the most lopsided win for the Grizzlies im two years.
The nation’s 18th-ranked Metro State College Roadrunners came from as many as six points down to win the first set in extra points before dominating the second and third frames as they swept the host Adams State College Grizzlies, 27-25, 25-13, 25-16 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action, Saturday night here in Plachy Hall.
The Roadrunners hit an impressive .300 as a team as they won their season-best sixth straight match while improving to 16-5 overall and to 10-2 in conference play. The Grizzlies saw their modest 2-match overall and 3-match home-court winning streaks come to an end as they fell to 7-13 overall and to 4-8 in the conference.
Junior setter Darcy Schwartzman ran the effective Roadrunner attack as she doled out an impressive 41 assists, many to her big three hitters— Emily Greenhalgh, Bri Morley and Julie Causseaux, who all finished in double figures for kills. Greenhalgh had a match-high 12 and hit .321 while fellow outside hitter Morley tallied 11 on a .273 hitting night. Causseaux, a junior middle blocker, tallied 10 and hit at a .444 clip.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies were led by outside hitter Laura Loosbrock’s 10 kills. The true freshman also hit .412 and has been in double-figures in each of her last four matches.
The Grizzlies, who have never claimed a home win over the Roadrunners in now nine all-time tries, jumped out to an early 9-3 lead but watched the Roadrunners score the next five points, thanks in large part to Morley’s tough high-risk, high-reward jump serves that resulted in three aces, yet four service errors.
One of those errors stopped the Roadrunner momentum and allowed ASC to go back up 13-9 on kills by Letisha Spencer and Loosbrock. After Greenhalgh answered to make the score 13-10, the Grizzlies then went up by five (15-10) on an AJ Palmer service ace, their only one of the night, and another Loosbrock smash.
However, the Roadrunners stayed tough and eventually tied the set at 18 on an Anna Mapes kill before another Morley service error and a kill by redshirt freshman Deprece Washington put the Grizzlies ahead again 20-18.
The Roadrunners answered right back scoring the next four points on kills by Greenhalgh and Causseaux and two of the Grizzlies’ 22 overall hitting errors, six of which came via Roadrunner blocks, to take a 22-20 lead.
However, the Grizzlies would not go away, scoring three straight points to go up 23-22.
After a Roadrunner timeout, Greenhalgh put down a kill to the set before a Schwartzman service ace gave the Roadrunners their first set-point at 24-23.
They would not be able to win the set then or on their next set-point at 25-24 but finally did claim the frame as Causseaux and Morley put down kills to end the extra-time frame.
The Roadrunners wasted little time in the second or third sets building big 13-4 and 12-6 leads, respectively en-route to relatively easy wins. They hit .364 in each of those frames while holding the Grizzlies to a combined .034 attack percentage in those sets and to a .099 overall clip.
The Grizzlies did finish the match with a 37-30 advantage in total digs as sophomore outside hitter Dominique Davis back in the starting lineup for the first time in four matches, finished with a team-high 12.Junior libero Ngoc Phan had 16 to lead the Roadrunners.
Each team had six blocks although the Roadrunners had a 7-1 edge in service aces, mitigated by their eight service errors.
The Grizzlies, who are now 2-5 against nationally-ranked foes this season, finished the weekend 2-1 and will remain at home next weekend to face Western New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands on Friday, Oct. 22 and Saturday, Oct. 23, respectively.
What’s Been Said…