Women Fall in Regional Semifinal

The Faith volleyball team came up short this past weekend during North Central regional tournament play in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The Eagles entered regional competition as the #3 seed and matched against host and #2 seed North Central University.  

The Eagles and Rams had split wins during the season and the regional match proved to be a tough contest.  In set one neither team could gain seperation as the lead changed numerous times.  Both teams were able to gain one or two point leads only to see the advantage evaporate.  Faith was able to gain a 25-24 lead only to see the Rams tie and move ahead 26-25. Sophomore Emily Wolfe was able to land a kill and tie the contest only to find the Ram's take advantage of Eagle serve receive and win set one.  The Eagles' had a higher attack% and block total but could not find that final tally.  "We have played a number of NCCAA top 10 schools well but have had difficulty finishing those contests.  Against NCU that proved out again having the lead on numerous occasions and in the critical final stages", noted coach Nihart.

Set two was much the same as both teams battled hard at the net and in the backcourt.  Faith continued to hit a reasonable attack% but struggled at times in serve receive.  The Eagles quickly jumped out to 7-2 and 11-5 leads.  The Rams eventually caught the Eagles at 19-18. Faith again placed themselves in a position to win with a 22-21 lead but failed on two straight attack attempts losing set two 25-23.  In set three the Eagles could not maintain the same intensity level as in sets one and two and lost 25-18.  Senior Kimberly Post led Faith with 16 kills and 14 digs, sophomore Emily Wolfe added 10 kills and 19 digs, senior libero JoJo Hodak had 30 digs, while setter Emilie Morton had 30 assists. 

"I thought we played valiantly in sets one and two, but found it difficult to maintain our intensity in set three when we most needed the effort.  All year we were very competitive against high caliber teams, we just struggled with finishing," noted Nihart.

Junior middle hitter Alyssa Larson and sophomore Emily Wolfe were named to the All-Region team and JoJo Hodak was named North Central Region Libero of the Year. The Eagles finished the 2015 campaign at 16-14.