Falcons Drop Two in Portland State Invitational

Sept. 20, 2003

Despite two hard-fought matches, the Air Force volleyball team were winless in two matches at the Portland State Invitational. The team opened the day with a 3-1 (30-27, 11-30, 25-30, 29-30) loss to San Francisco. In the late match, the Falcons were topped by Portland State 3-0 (24-30, 30-32, 28-30).

The Falcons gave the tournament host Vikings all they could handle in the final game of day one. The team kept it close throughout, but the home team prevailed, as the Falcons couldn't overcome PSU's .293 hitting percentage.

Kristin Hamlett led the Falcons with 13 kills, while Molly White chipped in 10 kills. Delavane Diaz was held under 10 kills for the second consective match, notching just eight on 41 attacks. Kristin Huitt and Rebecca Gallegos each had eight digs to lead the Falcons. Huitt had 38 assists in the loss.

Earlier in the day, the Falcons suffered a disappointing loss to undefeated San Francisco, snapping a six-match winning streak. The Falcons took game one, but lost the next three. Services turned out to be the difference, as the team notched a 15 service errors and a season-high 14 reception errors.

For the first time this season, Diaz was held to single digits in kills. She had nine kills on 39 attacks with 11 errors (-.051 hitting percentage). Hamlett led the Falcons in kills with 17. Defensively, the team played well. Three players finished the match in double figures in kills -- Diaz (10), Huitt (13) and Jenalee Burke (12). They also held Dons' All-American candidate Brittanie Budinger to just 12 kills. Budinger had 31 against the Falcons last season when the teams met at the Academy.

Air Force will look to get on the win column tomorrow (Sept. 13) when the team faces Eastern Illinios in their final match of the tournament. Match time is set for 1 p.m. MST.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.