The UM-Westem Lady Bulldogs posted a 1-2 record and a semifinal appearance at the NAIA Region I tournament at Portland, Ore., over the weekend. Western was making it's second-ever showing at the regional tourney level. The Bulldogs opened the six-team tourney in pool play with Frontier rival Montana tech and #17 Southern Oregon on Friday. Western knocked off Tech in three straight games, 30- 25, 30-23-30-24, before meeting up with the eventual champion and national tourney qualifier. Western's two first round opponents played their opener Thursday, while the Lady Bull dogs were forced to play both teams on Friday. "We already knew what Tech wsa all about, they already knew what we were all about," said UM-W coach Jenny Peterson. "I thought we played pretty well and got the job done." In the game, senior Kristi Chidester hammered a team-high 12 kills, and Western out blocked Tech seven to zero. Tech's normally strong service game accounted for just eight aces and seven service errors, to five aces and three errors for Western. In the evening match, Western fell in three straight to Southern Oregon, 30-26,30-22,30-24."We were kind of tired but we weren't that tired," said Peterson. "There was no excuse for the way we played against Southern Oregon." Western had a chance to scout the Raiders during their Saturday match with Tech and knew what to expect. Acting on the game plan didn't work particularly on the defensive end, Western's strong suit."We went into the match knowing that most of their big hitters liked to go angle and we did not block them very well or dig them very well," said Peterson of the team's defensive effort. Western totaled 26 digs to South ern Oregon's 47, illustrating the difference in defensive intensity. The Lady Dawgs made eight team blocks to six for Southern Oregon, but the Raiders made up for it on the hitting end, smacking 51 kills to 38 for Western. No Lady Dawg hit for double digit kills as the team managed a weak .167 kill percentage."We just did not play well against Southern Oregon at all," said Peterson. "I didn't think that was a great match for us at all anytime, and we were still close to them." Despite the loss, Western took second in the pool and advanced to the semifinal round versus Concordia University, the host school and tenth-ranked team in the final NAIA power poll. In the other semifinal, it was Carroll College versus Southern Oregon. Of the nine tournament matches, five went the minimum three games, while the other four went one extra frame. None of the matches went the maximum five games. Western won a.game off Concordia and forced one the rare four-game matches. "'I thought we redeemed our selves against Concordia," said Peterson. "We just had a few too many errors right at the end. It was real close. We blocked extremely well against them, and our defense was better." "If we had to have been done, that was a good game to finish on because I felt that was our best game this season." Peterson noticed, that both Cascade Conference members took the ball to the outside and weren't accustomed to a middle attack. Western was able to exploit the middle throughout the match. Western picked it up with a .241 hitting percentage and 12 kills from Kasey Smith and 10 each from Katherine Sunwall and Cristi Chidester.
