ASU Hosts Three RMAC Opponents, Defeats Two

Dominique Davis
The Paw Print

The lady Grizzly volleyball team stepped out onto their home court for an important three game weekend. It was certainly quite the weekend for the ASU Grizzlies.
Playing two nationally ranked teams out of the three, the Grizzlies knew that they had a tough battle ahead of them. The Grizzlies were more than determined to have a successful weekend but knew that it was going to take an all out effort in order to achieve that goal. The Grizzlies definitely did what they had to do and played some really great volleyball against all three teams this weekend.
Thursday night was the start of all of the events against the 18^th team in the nation Regis University. The Rangers came into the Grizzly den with a 6-2 record in the RMAC and a 12-6 overall record. The start of the night started off well for the Grizzlies, taking the first set from Regis in a 25-15 win.
The night would soon turn into a total battle as the Grizzlies and the Rangers ended up taking it to a five game thriller.
Although the Grizzlies fought hard, they weren’t able to get the victory over the Rangers (25-15, 23-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-11).  This win was the fifth straight win for the Rangers. Freshman outside hitter Lindsey Stindt had career high 14 kills against the Rangers. Senior Dominique Davis led ASU with 17 kills and 16 digs to record her sixth double double of the season. Junior setter Gabriella Rifilato also had a double double with 47 assists and 14 digs. Hitting errors throughout all games were part of the reason why the Grizzlies fell to the Rangers.
The UC- Colorado Springs Mountain Lions were the Grizzlies next opponent on Friday night. The stands were packed, and the Grizzlies were determined to bounce back from a tough loss on Thursday night.
They certainly did bounce back thanks to their amazing energy and their season high 80 digs. Their (25-19, 17-25, 29-27, 25-18) victory over the UCCS Mountain Lions allowed the Grizzlies to improve to a 14-4 overall record. Junior right side Letisha Spencer tallied 14 kills and senior Dominique Davis recorded 22 kills and 11 digs. Rifilato had 49 assists and 16 digs.
The last game of the weekend was a much anticipated one against Metro State, who are 20^th in the nation. The Grizzlies (25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 15-13) win was ASU’s first since 1996. This win moved the Grizzlies back to first place in the West Division with an 8-3 record in the RMAC. Junior middles Megan Tapia and Deprece Washington each had 10 kills with a combined 11 blocks. Junior Letisha Spencer had 11 kills and 4 blocks while hitting an impressive .474 clip. Junior Gabriella Rifilato finished with 51 assists and seven digs. She also had four aces. Senior Dominique Davis tallied 18 kills on the night with 14 digs.
The Grizzlies had a winning weekend and will use their wins as motivation as they hit the road next week and head to South Dakota and Nebraska to play Black Hills State and Chadron State on Thursday and Saturday.