Aggies move on to Semis at LSC

CANYON, Texas (November 8, 2007) – The surging Cameron Aggie volleyball team (13-15, 6-6 LSC) extended their season by another match today with a 3-1 sweep of the Midwestern State Mustangs (27-4, 10-2 LSC) in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Championship volleyball tournament. The Aggies, the #6 seed, defeated the Mustangs, the #3 seed, in a match that was scored 25-30, 30-28, 30-21, 30-20.

“I’m happy for the team because I think this is going to force us to get some recognition,” Head Coach John Haroun said. “We really are playing good ball. When you take out an opponent as strong as Midwestern in four games with so much at stake, it says a lot about the character of this team.”

The Aggies dropped the opening three points of the first game and were never able to gain the lead. The team came out refocused and reenergized in game two, at one time leading by as many as five points. Cameron tried to give the game away as they fell behind 28-27, but the Ags scored three straight points to take the second game.

In the third game, CU and MSU went back and forth trading points until Cameron went up 18-17. The Aggies then proceeded to win 12 of the next 16 points for the game three victory. The fourth and final game appeared to be CU’s from the opening point, as Cameron’s momentum was simply too much for the ‘Stangs. 

“We have matured. We are a really young team and we had to mature on the court,” Coach Haroun said. “Now that we are a little more mature and not all rattled we can just play our game.”

Senior outside hitter Fernanda Queiroz led the Aggies in the match with 16 kills. She attacked the net a team-high 46 times with just 6 errors for a .217 attack percentage. Queiroz also totaled 9 defensive digs, 2 assists, 3 block-assists, and a block-solo.

Sophomore setter Laura Ellerbrock had a huge day, recording 53 assists in the match. She also finished with a team-high .500 attack percentage after totaling 2 kills on 4 assists with no errors. Additionally, Ellerbrock finished with 10 defensive digs, 2 block-assists, and a team-high 2 service aces.

One of Cameron’s leading defensive players today was sophomore right-side hitter Lindsay Paziuk. She totaled a team-high 12 defensive digs, 3 assists, 2 block-assists, and a team-high 2 service aces. Paziuk also recorded 13 kills on 30 attacks with just 7 errors for a .200 attack percentage.

Sophomore middle hitter Sydney Stewart had a very solid match today, recording 8 kills on 17 attacks, with 2 errors, for a .353 attack percentage. Defensively Stewart led the Aggies in blocks with 2 block-solos and 3 block-assists. She also had 2 defensive digs.

“Our defense has really kicked it into high gear, and taken their game to the next level,” Coach Haroun said. “We are more balanced offensively and our setter has really matured. Everybody was really consistent today; our middles did well, we hit by committee, and our girls were steady.”

Cameron now advances to play the winner of the Central Oklahoma/Texas A&M-Kingsville match at 5:00pm on Friday. UCO is the #2 seed and TAMUK is the #7 seed. At the time of this release the teams were still playing.