WINFIELD, Kan. (macbulldogs.com) ---
Lexi Kite (Thornton, Colo.) posted a match-high 16 kills as the McPherson College volleyball team posted a four-set win (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19) over Southwestern College on Saturday.
After trading close victories in the first two sets, the Bulldogs (9-3, 3-1 KCAC) raced out to an 8-2 lead in the third with six points coming on the serve of
Jocelyn Cochran (Newton, Kan.). The Moundbuilders (4-8, 0-4 KCAC) charged back to cut the McPherson advantage to three points at 11-8, holding close but never able to completely overcome the deficit. A Briley Ware kill cut it to 21-19, but three kills by
Jessica Sanders (Rhome, Texas) and a service ace by
Kaitlyn Heinis (Oviedo, Fla.) allowed the visitors to grab a 2-1 lead in the match.
It was back-and-forth between the teams for much of the fourth set but, after grabbing the lead at 18-17 on a Southwestern attack error, McPherson scored five straight points on Heinis' serve to sit just two points away from victory at 23-17. The teams traded the final four points with Kite puncuating her evening with a kill for the final point of the match.
Southwestern finished the match with more kills than McPherson (53-51) but also committed 10 more errors (30-20). Each team had three service aces.
Kite finished with 16 kills and just six errors in 33 attacks for a .303 hitting percentage. She also had an assist, an ace and 10 digs.
Sanders added 11 kills, three digs and assisted on a pair of blocks, while Cochran had eight kills, nine digs and three block assists.
Devrie Sombers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) matched Cochran with eight kills and had four block assists. Heinis grabbed 27 of McPherson's 48 assists with
Morgan Little (Las Vegas, Nev.) adding 17. Heinis also had nine digs and Little six.
Emily Warner (Wichita, Kan.) led the Bulldogs defensively with 22 digs.
Ware led the Moundbuilders with 14 kills, followed by Kayla Brackett with 12 and Anna Warnke with 11. Amber Martinez added nine kills and 15 digs. Samantha Lang had a team-best 22 digs, while Kadyn Jones added 10. Catabrean Baumann registered 45 of Southwestern's 50 assists.
"Southwestern's gym is a tough place to play," said head coach
Jessica Cleveland. "They came out stronger than we expected and used their middles on us a lot for fast tempo swings. We played back and forth with them a lot but pulled away for the 'W'. Lexi Kite hit double-digits in both kills and digs. Emily Warner stepped up when our blocking was lacking with 22 digs. We spread out our offense making it unpredictable so we could earn points across the net."
McPherson returns to the court Monday with a home KCAC match against Tabor before embarking on a four-match road trip that keeps the Bulldogs away from the Sport Center until October 1.
