Women Have Mixed Results at Ram Invitational
Coaches and athletes always take the opportunity in sports to "send a message". Letting your opponents know that you are determined to be competitive if not unbeatable. This past weekend the Faith volleyball team...
Coaches and athletes always take the opportunity in sports to "send a message". Letting your opponents know that you are determined to be competitive if not unbeatable. This past weekend the Faith volleyball team sent a mixed series of messages to North Central Regional rivals.
The Eagles began the pre-region tournament defeating Trinity Bible 3-1 only to find the tables turned on Saturday with the Lions attaining a 3-1 match win. The Eagles had a 21.5% attack in match one and 9.6% in the second, 11 blocks in match one with only four in match two and needed only 51 digs in the first match while 65 in the second. "We really had a complete reversal from day one to day two in the Trinity match. They have a couple of good middle hitters which we contained on Friday and lost sight of on Saturday. We know our middle defense is going to need shored up as the majority of teams we play this year will be strong at that position," noted coach Lanny Nihart. Faith was led in both contests by junior middle Julia Bray with a 36.4% attack in Friday's match and 17 kills and five digs and another 17 kills in Saturday's match. Junior outside hitter Jenna Smith had a season high 15.8% and seven kills on Friday and freshmen Kim Post added seven kills. Freshmen defensive specialist JoJo Hodak contributed 11 digs and six kills Friday and 19 digs on Saturday while Libero Rikki Powell added 10 and 16. Setter Stephanie Knupp had a season high 36 assists in the win on Friday.
Faith also played defending regional champion Providence University College and came up on the losing end 3-1. The score mirrored an earlier match in Ankeny during the Spikefest Tournament with Providence winning by the same 3-1 score. Faith began the match strong matching the much taller Providence team only to lose 25-19 in set one. Set two found the Eagles dropping their intensity losing 25-10 only to come back with a set three win 25-21. Providence found their offense in set 4 with a 40% attack. " We gave up the largest attack percentage in that set four this early in the year. We need to put more emphasis on blocking because our backs need some touches and relief," mentioned Nihart. Faith was led by Bray with 15 kills and Hodak with six kills and six digs. The Eagles only mustered a 6.9% attack their lowest on the season.
Faith finished the round robin tournament playing host North Central University on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles responded well by winning 3-0 which saw all players enter the court. Faith dominated the Rams with a stifling defense which produced 55 digs and multiple free ball executions. Freshmen JoJo Hodak continued her improvement with a 50.0% attack and 12 digs. Powell added 20 digs to the defensive effort and knew adjustments needed made. " We want to keep getting better on the defensive end and as backs we know that is our job to pass. We are doing well and hopefully next week can continue to win," noted Nihart.
The Eagles season record is at 4-5 and find the Eagles travelling to Omaha on Tuesday to face NCCAA #3 Grace University on Tuesday and host AIB on Thursday with the annual homecoming game this Saturday at noon against Central Christian College of the Bible.