The McPherson College volleyball team headed east to Hillsboro ranked among the NAIA's top 25 for the first time in school history on Tuesday (Sept. 18). Tied for the #24 spot in the NAIA weekly coaches' poll released earlier in the week, the Bulldogs beat Tabor in four sets.
In set one, the Bulldogs opened a five-point margin at 14-9 on a kill by
Devrie Sombers (SR, Colorado Springs, Colo., Pine Creek HS). The Bluejays strung together a four-point run to cut the deficit to one at 14-13 before McPherson pulled away, maintaining a margin of three or four points. McPherson finished off the win with kills by
Lexi Kite (SR, Thronton, Colo., Prairie View HS) and
Leia Seiler (SR, Fort Lupton, Colo.) off of sets by
Kaitlyn Heinis (JR, Oviedo, Fla., Paul J. Hagerty HS) to sandwiched a Bluejay kill and then a service error to finish off the 25-20 win. Kite led the McPherson attack with six kills while Heinis dished out six of the Bulldogs' 12 assists as the McPherson offense converted 0.300 of its attacks while Tabor's attack percentage was just 0.088.
Jamie Siess (JR, Tecumseh, Kan., Shawnee Heights HS) keyed the McPherson defense with seven digs.
Set two saw Tabor pick up its first set win of the 2018 from the Bulldogs after McPherson had swept a non-KCAC three-win from the Bluejays on September 9 in the Sport Center. McPherson largest lead early in the set was only two points, the final time at 11-9 on a Kite kill off a
Skylar Lane (SO, Castle Pines, Colo., Rock Canyon HS). A four-point Tabor run gave the home team a 13-11 lead. With Tabor up 14-12, McPherson tied the set at 14, 15, 16, and 17 before going up 19-17. Each time the Bluejays evened the score at 20, 21, and 22 McPherson had a response.
Riley Bradbury's (SO, Highland Ranch, Colo., Rock Canyon HS) kill off Heinis' assist gave McPherson a final lead at 23-22, but the Bluejays weren't going to let this one get away as they finished off the 23-25 win on a pair of kills by Kendra Kroeker and the coffin nail by Jessanna Nebel. Five assists each by Heinis and Lane led to Kite's five kills. In a set with several long rallies, Siess, Kite and
Rianne Richard (SR, Wichita, Kan., Heights HS/Neosho CC) each finished with four digs.
The second set loss appeared to get the Bulldogs' attention as they sprinted out to a 5-0 lead on the service of
Skylar Lane which including a service ace and kills by
Bree Wallace (JR, Wichita, Kan., East), Sombers and
Riley Bradbury. Tabor cut the deficit to one (6-5) before McPherson put together another 5-0 run only to have the Jays narrow the difference to two at 11-9. Again, the Bulldogs strung together five consecutive points for a 16-9 margin. After McPherson went up by nine (21-12), Tabor narrowed the Bulldog lead to five points (21-16) before McPherson finished off the 25-20 win for a 2-1 match lead with a Kite kill and a service ace by Heinis. Again, Kite led the Bulldog attack with four kills, followed by
Riley Bradbury with three for the second straight set. Lane dished off five assists while Heinis had four. Siess upped her dig total to 19 for the match with eight in set three.
Set four was back and forth! With the largest lead by either team after Tabor's initial 4-1 lead, the set was tied 11 times as the largest lead either team could build was two points. Finally, with the score tied 19-19, ran the table, scoring six straight on the serve of
Lexi Kite and aided by a pair of
Riley Bradbury kills to close out the set 25-19 and the match 3-1. Richards picked up seven digs to led the Bulldog defense as the McPherson offense was spread around.
Following the match, coach
Jessica Cleveland commented, "After playing Tabor two weeks ago, they prepared for us well. They ran a very quick offense that was hard to beat." She added, "Our block, especially (Mady) Woog (SO, Highlands Ranch, Colo., Mountain Vista HS), stepped up and was able to shut them down. Kite was our go-to tonight, knocking down 17 kills."
Kite finished the evening with 17 kills while Heinis had 19 assists and Lane contributed 16. Defensively, Siess picked up 23 digs while Richard finished with 17.
The win moves McPherson's overall record to 15-1 and 2-0 in KCAC play. McPherson will return to the Sport Center on Saturday with a 5:00 p.m., non-KCAC match against Wayland Baptist of Texas. The Bulldogs' next KCAC match will be next Wednesday, Sept. 26, against Southwestern College in Winfield.
