Eagles Reach Championship; Booth and Smith Named All-Americans
November 14, 2017

Eagles Reach Championship; Booth and Smith Named All-Americans

The Faith volleyball team reached the ACCA (Association of Christian College Athletics) National Championship match this past weekend in Joplin, MO, in which the Eagles were defeated by Arlington Baptist College by the score of 3-0. "We played extremely well during the tournament run. Arlington hit a high attack percentage and are defensively difficult to score against. Without excuses, we were tired in the championship match after two tough wins against Dallas Christian College and late nights. I was very proud of the effort we were able to give in that last match," noted Coach Nihart. 
 
The Eagles made it to the championship with a hard fought 5 set semi-final victory over Dallas Christian for the second time in two days. In the deciding set the Eagles led at 8-7 before trading court sides. Faith pushed the lead to 11-8 only to see Dallas Christian rally to tie the score.  With the score tied at 13-13 the Eagles were able to win with a kill and Dallas Christian error. "We did a great job of mustering that win. Dallas did a great job of ball handling and redirecting balls, which caused a number of defensive confusions on our part." noted Nihart.  
 
In the early rounds of the tournament, Faith defeated Baptist Bible College of Springfield, MO 3-0 and Ozark Christian College 3-0. The first contest with Dallas Christian was an intense match with the Eagles quickly down 2-0. "The sets were close we just could not get defend the right attack zones. Coming back to win three sets was terrific. I thought our team demonstrated maturity through the entire match." Set 5 saw Faith roll to early leads, enabling the victory. 
 
Seniors Shannon Steffen, as well as Juniors Karis Giegerich, Samantha Betz, and Charity Appell were awarded with ACCA Scholar Athlete honors. Freshmen Abby Booth and Bekah Smith were named to the ACCA All-American team. The Eagles' strong finish enabled them to end the season with an 18-17 overall record.   
 
 
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