La Salle volleyball team finishes 2011 Cross-Town Invitational with 0-3
Looking to rebound after the previous loss of two matches at Hartford Tournament, the La Salle University Volleyball Team (Explorers) failed to come out of blues and dropped all three matches at the Cross-Town Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The
Explorers crossed their ways with Lafayette, Princeton, and Lehigh teams this past weekend and constantly remained on the losing side. They put up extremely good effort in the first match against Lafayette Leopards on Friday, September 16 but ultimately squeezed
out by the opponent. The La Salle team remained in troubled waters in the next two matches on Saturday as well. They dropped both matches with same score of 0-3. La Salle finished the Cross-Town Invitational with disappointing record of 0-3.
Match 1
In the first match, La Salle team fell in a five-set gruelling battle against Leopards and received (25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, and 12-15). It was a back-and-forth affair in the first four sets. Explorers gave good competition to Leopards in the opening
set and clinched success with narrow margin of two points. However, Lafayette team equalled the game score by capturing second set with identical score. Leopards continued with success and extended their lead to 2-1 in third set before La Salle hit back strongly
and created the dead-lock of 2-2.
The decisive fifth set was a volleyball scrimmage as score tied for six times. However, luck was on Leopards’ side and they won the match by claiming final set.
Match 2
Following a bad start in the tournament, Explorers faced Princeton squad in the second match on Saturday. The Tigers of Princeton University proved to be a ‘tough nut to crack’ for Explorers. They dominated La Salle in both attack and defence sides. Explorers
seemed to be doomed by the long runs and hard-hitting of Tigers throughout the match. Girls from La Salle dropped first two sets with indistinguishable score of 13-25. Sophomore Rachel Finkbeiner and Kourtney Clark of La Salle came from different angles but
failed to change the mood of game. Tigers continued with success and finished the match by claiming third set at 25-10.
Third match
La Salle side got another chance to create a little spark on the scene in third match when they put up against Lehigh. As expected by many, the Explorers failed to put up a good show of volleyball and fell to Lehigh by identical scores of 3-0. The set scores
experienced a little variation but largely it could be regarded as another failing performance by the La Salle team, (25-13, 25-15, and 25-10).
The Explorers will now meet NJIT in a none-conference match on coming Tuesday, September 20. Afterwards, La Salle will open its Atlantic 10 schedule next weekend. So far the Explorers have built an overall record of 3-12 in the 2011 Season.
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