The Faith volleyball team suffered their first MCCC conference loss this past Tuesday at Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, Iowa). Both Faith and Emmaus entered the contest undefeated in MCCC conference play.
Emmaus began the match strong and took set one 25-16 by aggressive offensive attacks, outhitting the Eagles 27.6 percent to 3.7 percent. "We determined to control the match by slowing down the pace through strong defensive effort and utilizing subs" noted Coach Lanny Nihart. "In the first set we did not accomplish either of those goals".
Set two was a different story as the Eagles jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Faith was able to maintain the lead throughout the set, including a 23-21 edge. "I liked the fact we stuck to our game plan of defensive effort. We were able to get our blocking to create either down balls or deflections helping generate offense. I thought we did a better job of adjusting to substitution patterns. Now we just need to learn to finish." In spite of the Eagles garnering a higher attack percentage, 12.2 percent to 11.3 percent, Emmaus was able to take set two by the score of 25-23.
In set 3 the Eagles reverting to being plagued by turnovers losing 25-9. Emmaus had a match high of 48.4% attack and numerous serving aces. "We let our intensity dwindle in the last set. As coaches we need to do a better job to instill the intensity needed to win these types of battles" noted Nihart.
The Eagles were led by freshmen Abby Booth with 10 kills and 10 digs. Junior Samantha Betz contributed 5 kills with a 41 percent attack ratio. Libero Cara Hodak lead the defensive effort with 15 digs.
The Eagles travel to the state of Kansas this weekend for a pair of conference matches against Barclay College on Friday and Manhattan Christian College on Saturday.
