Carrollton, GA - The long preseason paid off for the West Georgia Wolves at the 2010 Saint Leo Lion Classic, as the Wolves came away from that event with a 2-2- overall record on the year.
On the opening day of the tournament, freshmen Emily Reul and
Reagin Boggs got things going for the Wolves as Boggs dished out 57 assists and Reul had 17 kills to lead UWG to a 2-0 first day.
Against Dominican in the opener, the Wolves were stellar, blasting out to a lead in each of the three games. That led to a successful opening, as West Georgia won 25-18, 25-18 and 25-13. Reul led the way with nine kills at a .450 hitting percentage. Ellie Murphy and
Lisa Ogide picked up the defensive effort with 15 digs and four blocks, respectively.
Except for a slight 26-24 loss in the fourth game of the Wolves match with Upper Iowa, the first two matches of the year were very similar for West Georgia. The biggest difference for the Wolves was that veterans led the way in this one.
Sophomores Mary K Krueger and
Audrey Hipple each had 10 kills in the 3-1 UWG win over the Peacocks. It was the beginning of a stellar run for Krueger, who ended the week with a .342 hitting percentage. In the Upper Iowa match, she had her second-best match of the week with a .500 hitting percentage.
Defensively, Murphy continued to be steady, collecting 22 digs in the win. Krueger was tops at the net, picking up four blocks to add to her strong start.
The beginning of the second day brought the Wolves back to earth, as a strong Saginaw Valley front line kept the UWG hitters at bay for much of the match. The Cardinals’ front line had 13.5 team blocks on the afternoon, holding the Wolves to just .057 in the hitting department while handing UWG a 3-1 loss.
The Wolves’ finale at the Saint Leo Lion Classic was arguably the best match of the entire weekend, but it ended rough for West Georgia as Pittsburg State took a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
West Georgia jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the match, taking the first game 25-23 and the third game 25-20. The fourth game was a see-saw battle that saw neither team take more than a two-point advantage throughout. Down 24-22 in that set, Boggs found Krueger for a kill, pulling the Wolves to within one, but Pittsburg State tied up the match with a kill on the final play.
In the fifth and final set of the tournament, West Georgia briefly took a 11-10 lead, but a four-point surge from the Gorillas put the game and the match out of reach as Pittsburg State won 15-12.
Reul and Krueger came out of the weekend leading the Wolves in kills with 39 each. Ogide is at the top of the heap in hitting percentage, collecting 22 kills at a .375 pace. Boggs, Cassady Cook and sophomore Taylor Mense split the setter duties on the weekend, with Boggs leading the way with 86 assists on the year.
On the block, Krueger was stellar, collecting 15 total blocks, including three solo, while Ogide added eight for her effort. In the digs department, Murphy has that category locked down, averaging a blistering five digs per game over the 16 game weekend. She came close to her second 30-dig club match against Pittsburg State, setting her season-high for digs with 26.
The Wolves open the week at The Coliseum against Emory on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., then it’s off to Savannah over the weekend to take on another four matches at the Armstrong Atlantic Invitational