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| Lauren Summerville |
GOLDEN, Colo. -- Saturday started out in wonderful fashion for the Lady Miner volleyball team, but it couldn't sustain the early momentum and lost both of its matches to wrap up the weekend at the Oredigger Classic at Colorado School of Mines.
The Lady Miners had their most impressive single game performance of the early season in their first match Saturday, beating defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion Western New Mexico 30-17 in the opening game. However, WNMU came back and won the next three games to take a 3-1 decision.
On Saturday night, UMR dropped a 32-30 game to the host school and ended up getting swept in three games.
UMR jumped out to a 13-2 lead to start the Western New Mexico match and went on to win the game thanks in large part to a .321 hitting percentage. But as that mark started to decline over the course of the match, so did the team's fortunes.
Western New Mexico won game two 30-22 as it took charge in the early stages of that game, then held off the Lady Miners in the third game for a 30-27 win. UMR was within a point at 22-21 after back-to-back service aces by Bridget Williams but couldn't catch all the way up. The Mustangs won the fourth game 30-13.
Leandra Pelae led UMR with 15 kills while Lauren Summerville finished with 11. Ashlyn Balensiefer had 39 assists while Williams and Pelae combined for 32 digs. The Lady Miners finished the match with a .122 hitting percentage after the fast start.
In the 3-0 loss to Colorado School of Mines, the Lady Miners and Orediggers battled until CSM came away with the first game win at 32-30. Then, just like in the Western New Mexico match, the Lady Miner attack percentage fell in the last two games as the team was guilty of 20 attack errors in the final two games, won by CSM 30-17 and 30-21.
Pelae and Summerville had nine kills apiece, while Balensiefer finished with 27 assists and 14 digs.
UMR will be back in action Tuesday when it faces Washburn in Topeka, Kan.
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