Volleyball Spends Weekend in Colorado; O'Brien Named to All-Tournament Team

Keisha O'Brien ‘10 earned All-Tournament Team honors as Whittier College Volleyball traveled to Colorado for four games in two days at Colorado College on September 12 and 13.  The Poets won their first match of the weekend, beating Whitman in four games (26-24, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19) for their first win of the season.  The following three games resulted in losses for the Poets, getting swept by Colorado College (25-15, 25-9, 25-13), East Texas Baptist (25-17, 25-20, 25-10) and Concordia (25-21, 25-12, 25-20).  The Poets are 1-5 on the season.

O'Brien finished with over half of the Poets' kills over the weekend.  She had 63 of the 114 team kills.  In the win over Whitman, she had a match-high 22 kills and added 19 digs.  Natalie Barajas '10 had eleven kills and nine digs.  Jennifer Salas '10 led the defense with a match-high 36 digs.  Sara Araiza '12 was credited with 37 assists, 13 digs and three service aces.

In game two against Colorado College, O'Brien had match-highs in both kills (13) and digs (11).  Melissa Johnson '10 and Anna Linduska '10 each had three kills.  Salas finished with six digs and Araiza ended up with 12 assists.

Against East Texas Baptist, O'Brien once again led the team with 16 kills.  She also added six digs.  Salas paced the defense with 17 digs.  Barajas was next with eight digs.  Araiza handed out 13 assists to go with three kills.

In the final game of the tournament versus Concordia, O'Brien once again finished with match-highs in kills (12) and digs (16).  Salas and Vicky Larios '10 had 13 and 12 digs, respectively.  Araiza finished with 20 assists and nine digs.

The Poets are at home for their next match on September 17.  They play host to SoCal rival La Sierra University in the Graham Athletics Center at 6:00pm.