A not so nice invitation: Scots show out in weekend tournament
Ryan Phillips - Sports Editor
The Fighting Scots went undefeated in last weekend's home volleyball invitation against four opposing teams.
On Friday, the Scots took on the Westminster College Blue Jays for their home opener. Scots dropped the first set after Westminster’s fifteen kills overwhelmed the Scot’s blockers.
The Jays poked the bear. The Scot’s stole the momentum, winning three sets in a row and sent the Jays back to their nest. Monmouth’s Layne Wright had fourteen kills in the match. Right behind her, freshmen Kaylee Celus with ten. On the defensive side, Paige Foltz and Chloe Strachan combined, had ten blocks.
Saturday introduced a long ten-hour day. The Scots had their first game at noon against the Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders. Set one was in favor of Monmouth as Kaylee Celus charged up her power spike, charting fourteen kills against the Raiders’ blockers.
“The game plan is always to just hit the hot hands,” Celus said after the 3-0 set win against the Raiders. “Today felt awesome, we all were just excited to be there, and we were ready to put it all together.”
Libero Savannah Robinson was another key player in the match, noting fifteen digs on the stat sheet. After small struggles with a momentum change in the second set, Scots’s called a timeout and ran away with the rest of the match.
“Coach Derrick just told us that we were playing a great game,” Robinson said on the timeout. “All the pieces were together, so we just used that to our advantage and kept on going from there.”
Game three was a breeze for the Scots’s as the Knox Prairie Fire showed up in their enemy’s cornfield. Scots won the match in three sets with the help of the Monmouth College pep band. Chloe Strachan of the Scots secured five kills, but once again, the almighty freshman Kaylee Celus spiked down eleven. Wright joined the fun, gathering eight kills and extinguishing the Prairie Fire for the twenty-fifth point in set three.
“It always feels good to end it,” Layne Wright said. “Coach told us from the beginning, saying it always starts with the serve and the pass. If we miss some, it is fine but keep being aggressive and get those aces.”
Monmouth finished their final game with seventeen aces and thirty-three kills.
The Scot’s sit at 6-4 overall after the invitational. They will travel to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday for a two-day invitational and won't touch their home court again until October 11 against Illinois College.
