Photo courtesy of Jeff Barrett
After finishing the regular season with an overall record of 19-7 and a conference record of 8-2 the USU Eastern women’s volleyball team claimed their first ever region title and now will head to Rangley, Colorado for the Region 18 Championship Tournament Friday and Saturday.
USU Eastern holds the No.8 spot in the nation and will enter the tournament as the No.1 seed. It was a long road to get to where the program is today, even from the beginning of this season.
“We had a few moments where we weren’t sure what was going to happen with the conference and national standings,” said head coach Danielle Jensen Tuesday on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports. “We had a some times where I was nervous. But, we got to work and figured out what we needed to do. I think we came out well on both the national and conference side.”
When it comes to nationally ranked teams Region 18 is home to not one but three teams ranked in the top 10.
“It really is so crazy when you look at numbers and rankings because we have three of the top 10 teams in this conference,” said Jensen. “We all share this conference so you have Snow College who is number 10 in the country and they finish third here. You don’t have that anywhere else.”
After putting together 11 wins before conference play began, the Lady Eagles dropped their first region match against Snow College. They would then put together back-to-back wins against the college of Southern Idaho and the College of Southern Nevada. In the match against Salt Lake Community College on Oct. 2, USU Eastern would suffer a 3-1 loss, and Coach Jensen knew things had to change.
“We had a pretty good eye opening experience when we lost to Salt Lake at home,” Jensen said when asked about the turning point of the season. “I explained to the team that we have to figure this out or else it is going to be too late. We were half way through conference and we were able to pinpoint what was wrong and we haven’t looked back since.”
And they haven’t, putting together six straight wins leading into the championships this week at Colorado Northwestern Community College.
Being the No.1 seed means a first round bye, and the opportunity to watch the other teams face each other, as the Lady Eagles won’t take to the court until 7:00 Friday night. They will face the winner of the Southern Idaho and Southern Nevada match.
Just last week USU Eastern traveled to Rangley to close out the regular season against Colorado Northwestern. Jensen made it sound like they were more than happy to make the trip again.
“Colorado is part of our conference and they deserve to host this tournament just as much anyone else,” Jensen said. “We are thrilled for them and the community to get to host this tournament this week and we can’t wait to get there.”
Salt lake Community College holds the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the winner of Snow College and Colorado Northwestern Friday before USU Eastern hits the floor.
If the Lady Eagles win Friday evening they will face the winner of the Salt Lake Community College match Saturday at 5:00 p.m..
The winner of the Region 18 Tournament will then move on to nationals in Hucthinson Kansas Nov. 18-20.
Click on the link below for the Region 18 Women’s Volleyball Bracket.