Eagles Reach Regional Semi-Finals

The Faith volleyball team continued to play late season competitive volleyball reaching the NCCAA North Region semifinals after defeating Moody Bible Institute 3-1 in quarterfinals play.

The Eagles captured set one by the score of 25-17. Moody made necessary adjustments to nudge the Eagles for a 25-23 set two win. "We wanted to gain another win against a quality opponent and give ourselves opportunity to reach the semi's. We did a really good job of staying focused on our goals of blocking and serve receive in this match," noted Coach Lanny Nihart.

The Eagles made necessary adjustments and behind key net play by right side Karis Giegerich took set three 25-20. Moody did not retreat and took the Eagles down to the wire in set four before losing 25-23. Defensively, Faith out-dueled Moody in blocking 12-3, in digging 63-59, and in attack percentage 14.7 to 9.4%. The Eagles were led offensively by Bekah Smith with 12 kills and Abby Booth contributing 11 kills, 13 digs and 3 blocks. Cara Hodak led with 26 digs and setter Emilie Morton had 36 assists.

The Eagles then earned the right to play number one seed Providence University College (Canada). The Eagles continued strong play taking early leads in set one, including an 11-10 lead. Serve recovery errrors and Providence's attacks began to take toll on the Eagles, as Providence took a 25-14 win. "We needed to find our resolve after the first set. As a team we really had a great effort to be positive and nearly pulled out set wins" noted Nihart.

Faith led much of both sets two and three only to lose late leads and absorb losses of 25-23 and 28-26. "I was proud of how we played the number one seed and a NCCAA Top Ten ranked team. I look forward to continuing our season and drive for a championship next week at the ACCA tournament," stated Nihart. Faith was again lead by Bekah Smith with 8 kills and Samantha Betz with 7. Libero Cara Hodak led the defensive efforts with 13 digs.

The Eagles will finish the 2017 campaign by participating in the ACCA tournament held in Joplin, Missouri this Thursday through Saturday.