(Peru, Neb.) – The Peru State volleyball team hosted a four-team tournament on Friday and Saturday in the Al Wheeler Activity Center.  The Bobcats finished the opening week tourney with a 2-1 mark.
 
The 'Cats dropped their opener on Friday night to the Doane College Tigers.  Doane took the game 25-20, 23-25, 30-28, 25-14.  On Saturday, Peru State rebounded with two wins.  First, the 'Bobcats stopped Presentation College (S.D.) 25-12, 25-11, 25-19.  After Presentation gained a win over William Penn University, the 'Cats topped William Penn in a long, hard-fought game 23-25, 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 15-13 that lasted two hours.
 
Doane College
 
The Bobcats faced Doane who had just opened the tournament with a win over Presentation.  After splitting the first two sets, the teams went back and forth in the third set before the Tigers pulled out a 30-28 set win.  Doane jumped out to a quick lead in the fourth set and the 'Cats were never able to mount a comeback and dropped the fourth and deciding set.

 
Bre Brandt (Papillion), playing for the first time against her former high school coach, led Peru State with 13 kills against the scrappy, defensive-minded Tigers.  The only other Bobcat with more than five kills in the game was Cristal Quinonez (Anthony, N.M.) as she finished with nine.
 
Courtney Jurek (Bellevue) led the Bobcats with 20 assists with Kelsey Young (Goodfield, Ill.) finishing with seven. 
 
Jurek and Jennifer Ostrowski (Kankakee, Ill.) each had three service aces while Shannon Liewer (Imperial) added one. 
 
Liewer led the team with 16 digs while Mallory Hull (Morse Bluff) and Hope Harsh (Cassoday, Kan.) added 14 and 12 respectively.
 
Ostrowski finished with five solo blocks and three block assists to lead Peru State in the blocking category.  Alyssa Martin (Grand Island) added three solo blocks and one assist with Rian Kirby (Gretna) had one solo and one block assist.  Brandt added two block assists.

DOANE BOX SCORE
 
Presentation College
 
Peru State played crisply as a team against Presentation on Saturday afternoon to gain their first victory of the 2014 campaign. 
 
 

In the first set, neither team was able to string together more than two points until Peru State strung together three points to take a 12-6 lead.  After the Saints did cut the Bobcat lead to 14-9, but, behind Hull's serving, the 'Cats went ahead 21-9.  Peru State closed out the first set on a Carrie Lierz (Holton, Kan.) kill to capture the set win.
 
The teams traded points to start the second set and were tied at 3-3 before Peru State scored the next four points and really never looked back.  Presentation was only able to gain a point at a time during the rest of the set.
 
Presentation did have a 4-3 lead in the third set, but that was quickly reversed by the 'Cats as they went on to win 25-19.
 
The Bobcats had a balanced hitting attack as Kirby led the team with nine kills on 17 attempts while hitting .471.  Lierz and Lindsey Nelson (Granite Bay, Calif.) each added eight kills while each hit over .300 during the win.
 
Young and Jurek shared the 6-2 setting duties with Young contributing 16 assists while Jurek added 15.
 
Hull and Harsh each had two service aces while Ostrowski and Young added one apiece.
 
Hull and Harsh also led the team in digs as they both finished with nine.  Jurek added six with Liewer contributing five.
 
Kirby, Martin, and Quinonez each had one solo block.  Ostrowski had four blocks assists with Nelson having two.

PRESENTATION BOX SCORE
 
William Penn University
 
Dropping a game to Presentation did not send the Lady Statesmen from William Penn into a downturn as they gave Peru State everything they could handle in the closing game of the tournament.
 
 

William Penn held the early lead in the first set and jumped to a 15-8 advantage before the Bobcats put together a 6-0 run which included two service aces by Harsh.  The teams traded points until the 'Cats finally tied it at 18-18 only to see the Lady Statesmen eventually finish out the set with a 25-23 win.
 
Again in the second set, William Penn had an early lead and led before it was tied at 12-12.  Peru State scored the next two points and never trailed the rest of the set en route to a 25-19 victory.
 
The third set was similar to the first two in that the Lady Statesmen had an early advantage and led through the first part of the set until the 'Cats tied it at 9-9.  Peru State added another five points after that to take a 14-9 lead and went on to win the third set 25-17. 
 
The m.o. for the fourth was the same as the previous three with the exception that Peru State was never able string together more than four points at a time as William Penn forced a deciding fifth set by winning 25-20.
 
For the first time in the game, in the fifth set, Peru State jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to see the Lady Statesmen come right back and tie it at 4-4.  Eventually William Penn led 10-8 before the Bobcats called a timeout.  It was a good timeout as the 'Cats responded with four points to take a 12-10 advantage before the Lady Statesmen added a point.  The team traded points throughout the rest of the set before Kirby ended the game with a kill on an assist from Jurek.

Kirby had an excellent third game for the Bobcats as she finished with a game-high 18 kills on 37 attempts while hitting at a .324 clip.  Lierz also finished in double-figure kills with ten.  Lea Boras (Markarska, Croatia) added nine kills with Jurek contributing six, all coming on setter dumps.
 
Jurek had 29 assists to lead Peru State with Young contributing 18. 
Harsh led the team with four service aces with Ostrowski adding three.  Liewer, Jurek, and Hull each had one ace serve.
 
Hull finished with 25 digs with three others adding double-digit dig totals – Harsh with 13, Liewer with 11, and Jurek had ten.
 
Martin had two solo blocks while Ostrowski and Kirby each adding one.  Nelson finished with six block assists with Ostrowski and Alexandria Mitchell (Fort Worth, Tex.) each adding three.  Martin contributed two block assists with Kirby and Boras each having one block assist.

WILLIAM PENN BOX SCORE
 
Upcoming Contests
 
Peru State will find itself on the road the next two weekends before returning to the confines of the AWAC.
 
Next Saturday, Aug. 30, the Bobcats will participate in a triangular at Grace University in Omaha.  At noon, the 'Cats will once again face Presentation and then will take on the host Royals at 6 p.m.
 
On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5 and 6, Peru State will take part in the Avila University Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.  The University of St. Mary (Kan.) will be the 'Cats first opponent on Friday at 4 p.m.  The Bobcats will turn right around and take on Oklahoma Wesleyan University at 6 p.m.  Then, on Saturday, Peru State will play Bethany College (Kan.) at 2 p.m. and then play Park University at 4 p.m.
 
On Tuesday, Sept. 9, the Bobcats will host their first Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) opponent when the Culver-Stockton Wildcats visit the AWAC.  The game is scheduled for 6 p.m.