ROCKFORD, IL – The Bay College Volleyball Team (1-3) opened their second season with a gauntlet of matches in the annual Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford, IL.  Ellsworth Community College and McHenry County College took away victories in three straight sets on Saturday before the Norse rebounded with a victory over Elgin Community College on Sunday.  Bay ended their tournament with a loss to Carl Sandburg College.

"It was really good to get out and play someone in a different colored jersey," said Head Coach Dan Porath.  "I really liked the way our team competed."

Ellsworth Community College (4-0) took momentum early in the first match when they edged out a 25-20 victory in the first set.  The Norse offense struggled in the second set, recoding a negative attack percentage (-.321) and were unable to muster a single kill in a 25-7 lopsided score.  While the Norse outpaced the Panthers offensively in the final set, Ellsworth managed to seal the match with a 25-19 score in that final set.

Bay matched up with another quality opponent in the second match of the day, facing off with the Scots from McHenry County College (3-1).  Attack errors piled up on the Norse as they recorded a negative percentage in the first and third sets.  The second set was tight, but a controversial call with the score tied at 24 went against the Norse and the Scots took advantage.  In the end McHenry took the match in straight sets by scores of 25-12, 26-24, and 25-18.

After not getting the desired results on Saturday, the resiliency of the Norse squad was tested on Sunday.  Bay responded by putting together their best offense of the young season in the opening set against Elgin Community College (0-4).  They put down 13 kills in 26 attempts, with only five errors to give them a .308 attack percentage, setting a strong tone for the remainder of the match.  The Norse ended up with 13 service aces, including four off of the hand of Tori Jandt (SO, Peshtigo, WI) and picked up the first win of the season with a sweep of the Spartans.  The scores ended up beign 25-16, 25-23, and 25-16 in favor of Bay.

The Norse had very little downtime in between sets and were matched against Carl Sandburg College (5-2).  The two teams went toe-to-toe in the first set as Bay had just one attack error and ten kills.  The Chargers ended up just a touch more efficient however and racked up 17 kills to go with four attack errors.  It ended up being enough to take the first set 25-19.  From that point the Norse offense struggled to get back in sync and Carl Sandburg took the momentum and ran with it.  They would end up with runaway victories in the final two sets by scores of 25-11 and 25-15.

"I can't talk enough about well how our kids competed this weekend," continued Porath.  "I thought we did some really nice things; I thought our defensive effort was great.  We have some things to work on offensively, but overall we are in a good position and I can see this team taking the next step forward this year."

Kylee Tadisch (SO, Coleman, WI) was the offensive leader for Bay.  She played in all 12 sets over the weekend and amassed 20 kills.  Olyvia Saxton (FR, Ithaca, MI) picked up 17 kills in her first collegiate action.  Tianna Taylor (SO, Gwinn, MI) added 16 kills.

Amber Caylor (SO, Wausaukee, WI) totaled 42 assists for the tournament.  Madison Johnson (FR, Florence, WI) split playing time with her at the setter position and ended up with 21 assists.

Defensively Jandt was credited with 77 digs in four matches as the libero.  Leah Allan (SO, Oconto, WI) had 38 while Johnson chipped in with 26 digs.

Tadisch made her presence known at the net with nine blocks in four matches, three of them being solo.  Taylor also had three solo blocks and six total, while Piper Monroe (FR, Menominee, MI) also had six total blocks, five them assisted.  Emma Rutter (SO, Chatham, MI) and Saxton each ended up with four assisted blocks.

The Norse will have their first home matches of the season on Saturday and Sunday.  Gogebic Community College will kick things off with a 1 pm match on Saturday afternoon.  The two teams go right back after it at 11 am on Sunday.  Bay will finish their weekend with a match against Alpena Community College at 2:30 pm on Sunday.