Volleyball Moves Winning Streak to Four With Sweep of York

McPHERSON, Kan. --- The McPherson College volleyball team won its fourth consecutive match Monday with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) sweep over York College at the Sport Center.

The Bulldogs (13-6, 6-4 KCAC) led from start-to-finish in the first set, using a 10-2 run to build the lead from 6-4 to 16-6. The Panthers (2-20, 1-9 KCAC) responded with a 4-0 run late, but McPherson scored five of the last seven points to win the set.

After a back-and-forth start to the second set, York surged to a 13-9 lead with a 4-0 run on the serve of Jolene Herzog. McPherson responded with a 6-1 run of its own to retake the lead at 15-14. The teams traded the next four points before the Bulldogs could gain a small measure of breathing room when a Lexi Kite (Thorton, Colo.) kill gave the home side an 18-16 advantage. The Panthers stayed within a point as late as 20-19, but McPherson concluded the set on a 5-1 run.

McPherson opened the third set with three straight points on the serve of Kaitlyn Heinis (Oviedo, Fla.), eventually building a 14-9 lead before York responded with a 5-0 run to knot the set at 14-14. From there, the Panthers scored three of the next five points to go up 17-16, but the Bulldogs were too tough down the stretch, scoring nine of the last 10 points with Jessica Sanders (Rhome, Texas) sending everyone towards the exits by slamming home a York free ball on match point.

McPherson racked up 43 kills in the match compared to just 25 for York.

Sanders had a match-high 14 kills, hitting .455 with just four errors in 22 total attacks. She added two digs and two block assists. Kite hit .391 with 10 kills against one error in 23 attacks and had a pair of service aces and eight digs.

Devrie Sombers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had six kills, while Jocelyn Cochran (Newton, Kan.) added five kills and nine digs. Heinis finished with 18 assists, two service aces and a pair of digs, while Morgan Little (Las Vegas, Nev.) added 11 assists and Emily Warner (Wichita, Kan.) had 11 digs. Leia Seiler (Fort Lupton, Colo.) had four kills and assisted on three blocks.

Jolene Herzog led York with 20 assists and seven digs. Halie Ewing and Kylie Wroot each had a team-high six kills. Ewing added six digs and two block assists, while Wroot had three digs, a solo block and four block assists. Delaney Woods had a team-best eight digs.

That is four sweeps in a row for the Bulldogs in advance of a huge match Wednesday against Kansas Wesleyan to close out the first half of the conference schedule," said head coach Jessica Cleveland. "We had a great game offensively, hitting .267 overall. Sanders and Kite had double-digit kills and we did a great job of serving aggressively to keep York out of system."

The Bulldogs close out the first half of the KCAC double round-robin schedule Wednesday when the Coyotes (12-11, 8-2 KCAC) make their annual visit to the Sport Center. First serve for the reserves is 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity at 7 p.m.

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McPherson College is a proud member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.