LAWTON, Okla. -- Cameron University kept a foot in the Lone Star Conference volleyball playoff door Saturday, getting solid efforts from starters and reserves in a three-set sweep over Southwestern State in the Aggie Gym. Scores were 25-17, 25-16, 25-15.
Coach Brianne Lowe’s Aggies improve to 4-8 in league play and 9-16 overall. They are just one game out of eighth place – the top eight qualify for the playoffs – with two games remaining.
The Aggies wrap up the regular season this week, hosting Midwestern State at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Tarleton State at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Saturday’s win featured the usual solid play from junior Adrienne Lawson and freshman Megan Olivarez, coupled with the best effort of the year from freshman setter Jenna Risoli. Senior Amber Schroer also was a force around the net.
Joanie Dubberly, Mariah Westlake, Valerie Ogle, Sarah Corbett, Jenna Keeler, Amanda Filiaga and Alissa Arment also contributed.
It was the first appearance of the year for Arment, a freshman from East Earl, Pa.
“She’s been working really hard this fall,” Lowe said. “Her serve has gotten better, her defense has gotten better. She’s shown in practice that she deserves to be out there, so we put her in the middle and she did a good job.”
Arment had one of Cameron’s three aces; Olivarez and Dubberly had the others. Service errors were at a minimum.
“In all honesty, everyone stepped up for us tonight,” Lowe said. “When we get a win, someone is our best contributor to it and they get to pull a number down off the wall. Today, that was our setter.
”The reason that she got to pull it down – it was really a team effort too because we dug balls up so that she could mix it up and pass it well enough that she could set everyone.
“Being able to mix up our offense like that at this point in the year is exactly what we need to do going into these final two.”
Cameron closed the first set with a 10-4 run, with Schroer contributing a pair of kills and Corbett notching a solo block and joining Olivarez for another. There were seven ties in the first 11 points before an Olivarez putaway gave the Ags a 12-11 lead.
The second set started with ties on the first 10 points. Schroer put the Aggies ahead to stay with a dink and Olivarez followed with two slams around a Bulldog error to put Cameron up, 14-10. A dink by Risoli and two SWOSU errors ended the set.
The Aggies took control early in the third set, sprinting to a 12-4 lead that was aided by five Southwestern errors. The Bulldogs regrouped with three quick points but Cameron countered with a 6-0 run for a 20-9 advantage. Mariah Westlake was in the service box when Jenna Keeler and Lawson provided kills and Schroer added a block.
Lowe noted Schroer’s contribution.
“She has really come up and been more aggressive here at the end,” Lowe said. “Being a senior, I think she’s starting to realize this is it and she’s really come around and swinging aggressively.
“We really didn’t have that many errors. That had been kind of a weakness for us and that’s just an easy point for the other team.
“We really handled our own errors and did the things we needed to do. Southwestern is a team that can be a thorn in your side and just push and push and push. But, they will make errors. If you match their errors, that’s when you run into their challenge.
“And we didn’t. We took care of business on our side.”
Lowe isn’t caught up studying playoff possibilities.
“Right now, it’s so hard to look at everyone else and try to figure out what needs to be done,” she said. “We’re just focusing on us because that’s the only thing we can control.
“We do have two tough matches. My assistant (Tory Brouwer) and I have our work cut out watching film and putting together a game plan.
“The girls are showing right now that they can take information and translate it on the court and take care of business.
“Southwestern just beat Midwestern, so we’ll be studying that film, finding out how they did it, then putting together our best game plan.”
