Snow volleyball team falls to SLCC
Matt Harris
Staff writer
11-10-2016
TWIN FALLS, ID—The curtain fell on the season for the Snow College volleyball team when they were defeated in the Scenic West Athletic Conference tournament to Salt Lake Community College.
“We play in one of the toughest regions in the country,” Snow Head Coach Jeff Reynolds said. “To have three out of six teams ranked in the top-eight of the nation is something quite remarkable, yet only one team gets to go to the NJCAA National Tournament. There’s something really wrong about that, and we hope to be able to make changes in the future, but for this year, we knew going into the Region 18 tournament that we had to win or go home.”
The Lady Badgers began the tournament very strong when they shut out Colorado Northwestern for the third time this season.
“We came out strong in the first round against CNCC,” Reynolds said. “That doesn’t mean our match was easy. They are a very tough opponent, and we had to play our game in order to hold them off. I’m pleased with how we came out and played early in the match and sustained our intensity throughout.”
Salt Lake entered their match with the Badgers having just knocked off top-ranked Southern Idaho, 3-1. During the regular season, Snow and Salt Lake had split their series by beating each other at home.
Snow demonstrated exquisite focus in their first set and took the set point in a 27-25 tilt. After that, Salt Lake dominated, taking the last three sets and the match.
“I was extremely pleased with the way we came out and took care of business in the first set,” Reynolds said. “That was a tough game, but we hung in there and stuck to our game plan. Unfortunately, we were unable to sustain that focus and intensity over the next three matches. SLCC is a hot team right now, and they should be able to make it deep into the NJCAA Tournament.”
Although the season is over for the Lady Badgers, this season marks one for the history books for the volleyball program. Snow was ranked in the top ten nationally for the first time in Snow’s history, ranking as high as No. 6.
The Lady Badgers remained in the top ten for eight weeks straight, another school record. Snow finished with a record of 20-9, its second 20-win season in the last ten years.
Several postseason awards went to the Lady Badgers. Sophomore libero Sydnie Martindale was named the SWAC Libero of the Year after garnering Defensive Player of the Week Honors four times throughout the season. Martindale and her teammate, forward Brin Stewart were both made SWAC First Team recipients. Stewart was a critical piece in Snow’s upset of SLCC earlier in the year.
Alisa Tauteoli and Kelsie Evans were named to the SWAC Second Team and Honorable Mention, respectively.
