THE LEAD
Heading into the final match of the Oredigger Classic, the Lady Patriots put together an impressive effort as they came up just a little bit short against a competitive Western State Colorado team. WSC survived in five hard faught games to win the match 3-2. Freshman Strealy Sizelove led DBU with 25 assists, while Alexa Lezak had a team leading 12 kills. Hannah Ballew continued her impressive play by leading all players with 33 digs.
 
DBU came out on fire against WSC in the first after Western scored first the Lady Patriots when on a scoring tear with seven consecutive points to get out to a commanding 7-1 lead. However, the Lady Mountaineers were resilient and battled their way back into the game, tying the score up at fifteen points apiece. The rest of the set was a nail biter as DBU squeaked by with 23-25 win over Western State.
 
Sets two and three were marked by a similar style of play, as the Lady Mountaineers were able to hold a steady lead against DBU throughout the sets. The Lady Patriots competed hard, but they could not quite get past WSC in these two sets who took the lead on the match 2-1.
 
A reoccurring theme of the sets in this tournament was that the team who gets out to an early lead usually won the set. That definitely was the case in the fourth set of this match. The Lady Patriots quickly got out to a 3-0 start. The difference here was that WSC wasn't willing to go away. Western State kept clawing their way back into this game and actually started to pull away midway through the set leading 15-18. However, the Lady Patriots came back with vengeance go on a 7-0 surge putting them ahead 22-18. This led to an eventual DBU 25-20 set win.
 
This brought the Lady Patriots to a 15-point win all game five. This final set did not disappoint when it comes to an exciting, hard played competition. The set was close throughout it's entirety other than a four-point swing that put WSC ahead 7-12.  DBU did not go down without a valiant fight but it was just too little too late as Western earned the 13-15 set and match win.
 
COACH'S QUOTE
Coach Kokel said after the tournament, "I knew coming in we would face tough competition. We [saw] what some of the top teams in the nation look like this season and what we need to do in order to be better."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
83 digs by DBU compared to WSC's 76
59 kills by WSC compared to DBU's 51
59 assists by WSC compared to DBU's 49
 
WHAT'S NEXT
DBU heads to Wichita State next week 9/9 for the Midwestern State Fall Tournament.