Mt. Mercy Snaps Lady Eagles Win Streak

The Faith volleyball team had won seven of their first nine matches including five in a row heading in to their game in Cedar Rapids Tuesday evening. The Lady Eagles hit the road  to play NAIA opponent Mt. Mercy University, looking to extend their winning streak to six.  The winning streak would soon end, though, as Faith had a season low hitting percent, assist average, serving percent and digs.

 

Faith began the match taking a 2-1 lead but soon relinquished control to the Mustangs in set one with five serving errors.  "We talked about establishing a presence on a visitor's court right away.  We met that goal but in a reverse manner.  We have had matches with no or few serving errors let alone five in one set!  With our inability to transition quickly and serving errors we lost that first set," noted coach Nihart.

 

Mt. Mercy grabbed set one and two victories by identical 25-17 scores.  Mid way through the third set it appeared Faith would battle back with determination by taking early leads and knotting the score at 19-19. Ill timed hitting by Faith and great execution by the Mustangs saw Mt. Mercy put together a six point streak, though, claiming the game and the match.  "We just never got ourselves in the rhythm we have been playing with for the last two weeks and that is our fault.  At times we displayed the ability to match them at that net but it was never consistent.  The loss exposed some areas that need improvement which we'll address in practice this week.  Hopefully, we will endure our environment better the next time we are on the road," noted Nihart.

 

Faith was led offensive by senior Julia Rocha with eight kills while sophomores JoJo Hodak and Kimberly Post added 10 digs.  

Faith will be back in action on Saturday, September 14, at 4:00 PM when they will take on conference foe Central Christian College of the Bible. The game will be part of the Eagles Homecoming festivities. All alumni are invited back to campus for the weekend, with special events running Friday night through Saturday evening. More information can be found here. The alumni women's volleyball game will take place at 2:00 PM in  the Nettleton Center.