Snow volleyball team cruises to two victories before winning streak ends against NMMI
Matt Harris
Staff writer
9-22-2016
HENDERSON, NV—The Snow College women’s volleyball continued their success by posting a 3-1 record at the Coyote Invitational in Henderson, Nevada, including an impressive win against Glendale Community College.
The Lady Badgers entered the tournament, which was held last Thursday and Friday, ranked No. 9 nationally in Division I. In their first two matches, they easily dispatched their opponents Colby C.C., then an 11-1 team, and Victor Valley, beating them 3-1 and 3-0, respectively. The victories put Snow College on a 6-game winning streak and 12-3 overall.
The good times came to a bump in the road the next day when Snow struggled mightily against a talented New Mexico Military Institute team. Eventually, despite a late rally, the Lady Badgers fell to NMMI, 3-1, to see their streak end.
“Unfortunately, we did not show up that morning ready to play,” Head Coach Jeff Reynolds says. “For whatever reasons, we were flat and didn’t play the type of game we’re capable of playing. We talk to our team about the consequences of showing up late, so this was a good lesson for us.”
Snow would come back with a fury later in the day when only four hours after the match against the Lady Broncos, Snow faced a tough match against Glendale. GCC was a Division II, but came into the match as the No. 2-ranked DII team in the nation and had just knocked off the College of Southern Idaho, a Division I opponent who was No. 2 in their respective poll.
Fueled by the earlier loss, the Lady Badgers took the first two sets before Glendale responded by crushing Snow in the third set, 25-13. GCC’s rally bid would not come to fruition in the end as Snow took the final set, 25-20 to claim, what Reynolds calls, a “huge” victory for the Lady Badgers.
“We came out and played the way we’re used to playing,” Reynolds says. “Our defense was outstanding, which allowed us to control the momentum for much of the match. When we play the way we’re capable of playing, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”
With their final regular season tournament in the books, Snow now looks forward to a rigorous schedule in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), a conference in which the Lady Badgers are one of three ranked teams, including Southern Idaho and longtime rival Salt Lake. Both of those teams comprise Snow’s next two games at home.
Snow will host SLCC this Thursday at 7 p.m. and Southern Idaho on Saturday at 1 p.m.
