The Tigers brought out the brooms for a couple more sweeps during the annual Tiger Invitational on Saturday at the Hearnes Center.

In toughing out a competitive volley against Tulane University for the first match of the day, the Tigers were faced with their most challenging opponent yet.

“It was a good match for us because things weren’t easy,” coach Wayne Kreklow said. “Right now, I think that’s something that’s going to be very helpful for us. Tulane is a big physical team and they’re a pretty good ball club.”

Senior Brittany Brimmage and sophomore Lisa Henning led the youngest team in the Big 12 Conference through the rigorous match. Many unforced errors on both sides caused a nail-biting score for the first two games.

“They served aggressive and they did some things pretty well, and particularly in game two, they really put is in some uncomfortable positions,” Kreklow said. “I thought they caused us to make a lot of unforced errors.”

When mistakes drew the scores to a tight race, though, the veterans knew what was needed to get back on top.

“I felt like I really needed to be an upperclassman out there,” Henning said. “I needed to be strong and push through it and not break down out there so I think I did pretty well.”

Henning performed pretty well, indeed, with 24 kills on the night for Henning. Brimmage put in a showcase with big numbers, too, contributing 21 kills while mixing in four blocks and a few tips for points.

“I just felt really comfortable today and my intensity level was really high so I was just ready to get it done,” Brimmage said.

Hoping to continue the weekend’s success, the Tigers then took on North Dakota State University later in the evening, an even tougher match then the prior one.

“North Dakota State’s a great team … I knew we were going to have our hands full with them just by watching them over the course of the tournament,” Kreklow said. “I was really pleased with the way our kids responded by being pushed to the limits by a really good team that kept attacking and didn’t back off. We had to earn that.”

Henning and freshman Emily Wilson had 11 kills each in the night match. Setting sophomore Molly Kreklow quarterbacked 76 assists on the night and served pair of aces in each game.

“I feel great because we won and everyone played awesome,” Molly Kreklow said. “It was a great start for us.”

After losing the first two sets in the match, North Dakota state rallied in the third, leading the Tigers until the halfway point in the match.

At that point, Brimmage ended a long volley with a kill and then a solo block for the following point. Molly Kreklow added another kill before North Dakota State sided out the next play, forcing it to take a time-out and try to regroup.

“We really had to battle with these guys,” Kreklow said. “We really had to earn every point that we got. I was very pleased with our resiliency so far from a pretty young group.”

The youth on the court was lopsided, though, with North Dakota State returning four starters from the previous season.

But the freshmen remained strong, with Wilson leading the way and Katie O’Brien pounding seven kills for the day. Jade Hayes added 17 digs to senior Priscilla Armendariz’s 20 ups.

“I had high expectations for myself coming into my tournament, and I think I did a good job getting what I wanted.” Wilson said.

With high expectations came high honors for Wilson, who was named to the All-Tournament Team with Brimmage after the Tigers won their 4th consecutive Tiger Invitational title. Molly Kreklow was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.