Women Grab Conference Win, Drop Pair to Ranked Teams
October 12, 2015

Women Grab Conference Win, Drop Pair to Ranked Teams

The Faith volleyball team had their long distance trip for the year logging over 1,000 miles!  The Eagles traveled to confernce foes Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas and Manhattan Christian College in Manhattan, Kansas. Faith face Arlington Baptist and Barclay on Friday at Barclay, then traveled up to Manhattan for Saturday's match. Faith dropped games to Arlington and Manhattan, but defeated Barclay college to earn another conference win. Faith is now 10-12 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
The Eagles first opponent was nationally ranked Arlington Baptist.  Faith played the match very strong in set one only to come up short in a 25-20 loss.  The Eagles responsded in set two with an exciting come from behind 25-23 win.  Faith trailed by as many as seven late in the set but behind Kimberly Post and Emily Wolfe were able to create scoring runs.  The Eagles tied the match at 23 winning the set with two consecutive kills for the set win.
Set three found Faith continuing to battle against a hard hitting Arlington Baptist.  The Eagles prevailed in the early part of the match but succombed to the continual offensive pressure applied by Arlington resulting in a Eagle 25-20 loss despite a match high .237% attack.  The fourth and final set was much the same with the exception Faith could not find blocking and digging. "Arlington Baptist hits very hard and they are very consistent with their ball handling.  Those two facets created difficulty for us on the defensive side.  I was pleased with the effort the ladies gave against a nationally ranked team, and I think it propelled us in an important conference match with Barclay." noted Nihart.
Wolfe led Faith with nine kills and 24 digs while senior Kim Post added nine and 19.  Senior libero Josephine Hodak added 39 digs.
Next the Eagles took on the Barclay College Bears for an important MCCC conference match.  Both teams are vying for third place and the need to establish a higher seeding for the upcoming MCCC tournament to be held in Ankeny.  
Coming off a strong effort in the Arlington Baptist match, the Eagles started quickly against Barclay.  Behind Post's 14 kills and .269% attack Faith quickly established early leads in set one.  Faith maintained three to four point leads throughout the set. Faith established a 1-0 lead winning the set 25-22.  Set two found Barclay gaining early leads with Faith staying within distance. The Eagles gained the victory 25-21 executing in the critical late points. "We have had trouble with getting timely hits.  Tonight the team desired to win and that made a difference.  We were not tentative in those critical points," noted Nihart. 
Set three was close throughout the match.  The Eagles had a season high .342% attack enabling them to win 25-19 and claim the conference win. Wolfe led with 14 kills and 13 digs.  The Eagles were able to gain the win by utlizing only 70 digs.   
Faith then completed the road trip with a match at conference leader Manhattan Christian College.  The Thunder are yet to be challenged and Faith was hoping to present that challenge.  "We are trying to get consistency in our play at this time of the year.  Throughout all our injuries and sickness we are still wanting to push hard.  I was hoping for a better result with the Manhattan match," said coach Nihart. 
Faith started very sluggish in set one losing 25-10.  The Eagles were not prepared for the middle attacking by the Thunder and had difficulty establishing blocking and reading Manhattan's point of attacks.  Set two found the Eagles still in the same mired effort losing 25-11.  
Set three was an opportunity for Faith to make a statement of team maturity.  The Eagles hit a match high .290% to push for a 26-24 win and extend the match.  "On one hand I give credit to the team for finding the wherewithal to stay in the match and gain a set win.  On the other hand, we need to keep ourselves from being in that position by starting stronger," stated Nihart. 
Manhattan ended the match with a set four 25-14 win.  Wolfe and Post again led the team offensively with 10 kills 20 digs and 13 kils and 16 digs respectively.  
"We have determined as a coaching staff and players we are going to continue working on our game to get prepared with post season play.  We want to be in a position to win the conference tournament and ultimately NCCAA regional play in late October."  I think we can be a dangerous team with everyone healthy and on the same page." noted Nihart. 


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