St. Charles, MO --- The Lady Rams volleyball team traveled to St. Charles, Missouri, to compete in the Lindenwood Volleyball Invitational this past weekend and played three top teams ranked in NAIA Region V.

 

 

On Friday, the Lady Rams faced Culver-Stockton College dropping the match 16-30, 30-16, 18-30, 13-30 playing for almost two hours. Freshman middle Tiffany Deba led in kills with 8 along with freshman right side hitter Courtney Morris adding 7 kills. Junior setter Adrienne Ringer directed the attack with 34 assists while on the defensive end at the net Deba and senior Ashley Wright each had 2 blocks and on the back row Stephanie Castro and Shamara Pinson each contributed 13 digs.

 

 

 Later that evening, the Lady Rams started slowed while working on a new tri-middle line up faced #8 ranked Evangel University in Region V. Morris and Deba led with 6 and 4 kills and Deba added 2 more blocks to her total. Ringer spread out the attack with 16 assists and Pinson and Castro kept the ball in play with 14 and 7 digs apiece.

 

 

 On Saturday, the Lady Rams supported a new look working with a 6-2 offense and opened against #9 ranked William Jewell College in Region V. It took the Lady Rams a little while to get use to the offense but settled down to play some consistent volleyball. Morris again was one of the leaders in kills with 7 and had help from senior Dominique Green with 6 kills. Freshman setter Chelsea Dilworth, who is the second setter in the 6-2 offense and helped set up the attack force with 8 assists along with Ringer’s 14. Dilworth and Deba combined with 2 ace serves apiece with Pinson and Deba on the back row defense with 7 and 6 digs. Sophomore Mallori Oliver had 2 blocks to help control the net.

 

 

In the last match of the tournament the Lady Rams faced #13 in the nation and host team Lindenwood University dropping all three sets 12-30, 27-30, and 19-30. The match was actually closer that the scores showed with the Lady Rams forcing the Lions to work hard on every rally. Morris now has the team’s season high in a three set match with 12 kills and added 3 blocks to help the team on defense. Junior outside hitter Shamell Spivey added 8 kills from the direction of setters Ringer and Dilworth who each had 15 assists. Deba and Ringer served 3 and 2 aces each while competition on the back row between Castro and Pinson heated up and each had 13 digs on the defensive side with Deba’s 4 blocks.

 

 

Recap of the tournament --- Freshman right side hitter Courtney Morris had 32 kills with 11 errors in 69 swings for a .304 hitting average. Morris also contributed 10 digs and 8 assist blocks to earn her a position on the All-Tournament Team.

 

 

Next Opponent: The Lady Rams host Prairie View A&M University on Tuesday, October 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Mary E Branch Gymnasium on the HT campus.