Box Score vs. Anchorage
Box Score vs. Fairbanks
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Drury's volleyball Panthers concluded their season-opening, four-game trip to Alaska with a pair of losses Saturday in the Extended Stay Deluxe Invitational hosted by the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
Drury fell to 24th-ranked UA-Anchorage 3-1 in Saturday's nightcap by scores of 25-21, 23-25, 17-25, 15-25.
Earlier Saturday, the Panthers lost 3-1 to Alaska-Fairbanks by scores of 24-26, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-19.
Against Anchorage, which defeated Drury 3-0 on Thursday night, the Panthers won the opening set, and rallied from an early 10-2 deficit in the second before being closed out by just two (25-23). But the Sea Wolves pulled away midway through both the final two sets for easy wins to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Senior setter Austin Warren registered 34 assists to go with 14 digs for the Panthers, who received a team-high 21 digs from junior Michelle O'Dell. Junior #Ali Rook# led DU with 11 kills, while senior Kyrie Hopkins added 10 kills and senior Kayla Hellebusch had 10 kills and 15 digs.
In the loss to Fairbanks (1-1), Hopkins had a team-high 16 kills with a .429 attack percentage to lead the Panthers, who received 10 kills from Hellebusch. Warren posted 37 assists while O'Dell led the way with 17 digs. Junior Rook added 14 digs and eight kills.
Warren and Hopkins were named to the All-Invitational team at the meet's conclusion.
"Our effort and focus was good this evening," DU coach Ashleigh Shear Fitzgerald said after the loss to Anchorage. "I think the first two games, especially, we played relaxed and with a lot of passion. We are lucky to play a very talented team like UAA twice this early in the season ... they exploited a lot of weaknesses and helped us learn a lot about ourselves and what we need to do to get better.
"We will be a better team next week because of our experiences here."
The Panthers (1-3) will compete next Friday and Saturday in the Texas Woman's University Classic in Denton, Texas.