In their final game of the tournament, Salt Lake Community College faced off against Casper College. Both teams looked sloppy in the first set with each team making mistakes, which is how the other team scores unearned points.
The highlights of the first set included a long rally that the Thunderbirds finished to make the score 10 to 9 in favor of the Bruins, and the pretty play on both sides of the net that the Thunderbirds again finished to make the score 18 to 16 in favor of SLCC.
With the score 19 to 17, Bailee Kendall unleashed the beast with a beeline shot to make it 20 to 17. Kendall wasn’t finished there as she spiked the ball for a 22 to 18 lead for SLCC, and she finished the set with a hit off the defense to make it 25 to 19.
Set 2
Carol Grasso’s confidence grew as SLCC jumped out to a 12 to 5 lead when she overpowered the Thunderbird defense in the middle. Grasso made it 13 to 5 on another astounding hit. She scored again to make it 14 to 6.
The Thunderbirds looked to come alive scoring to make it 15 to 8 and scoring again on a long shot by SLCC’s Lizzy Reich that went out of bounds.
Kendall was not going to let the birds rise from the ashes, and she torched them for 2 points tha bookended a Casper score to make it 17 to 10.
The T-birds just couldn’t get it together in time to make a challenge, and Reich finished them off with a hit that went off the defenders fingers and a defensive block to make the score 25 to 16.
Set 3
The set stayed close as Grasso looked tired in the beginning. That all changed with SLCC down 12 to 13. Grasso served up two aces before hitting a third serve into the net. She then scored from the center to make it 15 to 14.
Kendall took over again with the score tied at 15. She scored point number 16 and used defense to make point 18. After a one handed set back score by Bruin Ailin Donati and a non-scoring block by Jillian Campbell, Kendall hit a shot that pinballed off 3 defenders to make the score 20 to 15.
The Bruins were tough enough to win 25 to 17 for a sweep of the Thunderbirds, and a sweep of their 4 games at the SLCC Invitational putting them at 5 and 3 on the season.
The next Bruin home game will be an exhibition against the Alumni on Sep. 21 and then for conference play on Oct. 12.
