Photo by Natalia Ahrens
Omaha, Neb. – After two tough losses on Friday to a pair of nationally ranked teams, the McPherson College volleyball team bounced back on Saturday with a pair of 3-1 wins over Dickinson State University and Morningside University.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick two set lead in the opening match against the Dickinson State Bluehawks, winning set 1, 25-14 and then following that up with a 25-13 win in set 2. The Bluehawks rallied in set three winning 25-23, but the Bulldogs bounced back, got back to form, and closed out the match winning set 4, 25-18.
Offensively, the Bulldogs hit .279 against the Bluehawks with 58 kills on 136 swings. They were paced individually by Aidan Brown (So. Sterling, Ill.), who went off, hitting .438 with 18 kills on 32 attempts. On defense, the Bulldogs tallied 60 digs and 4 blocks. Three Bulldogs finished with double digit dig totals including 12 from Moriah Delgado (Fr. Fort Worth, Texas), and 10 from Katelyn Moore (Jr. Douglass, Kan.) and Cynarah Rodriguez (So. Amarillo, Texas.). At the net, Moore, and Sydney Burton (Sr. Stillwell, Kan.) led the team with two blocks each.
After getting back into the win column, the Bulldogs kept rolling, taking on Morningside University in the finale of the weekend classic. The Bulldogs dropped a thrilling opening set against the Mustangs 24-26. After that, they stormed back to take the next three sets 25-17, 25-20, 25-23.
The offense had another nice outing, hitting .248 with 58 kills on 165 swings. They were led by Brown, Moore and Morgan Watson (So. Loveland, Colo.), who all finished with double digit kills. Brown led the way with 16, followed by Moore with 14 and Watson with 13.
On defense, the Bulldogs finished with 76 digs, and had a breakout match at the net with 8 blocks. Delgado was all over the floor, adding 20 more digs to her season totals, and on the block it was Morgan Kobe (Fr. Royse City, Texas), who had 5 assisted blocks and one more of the solo variety.
Coach Cahill liked what he saw from his team this weekend. He summed up their performance saying, "This weekend we took some major steps in our journey. The identity is forming for this group and we are getting better each time we step on the floor. Today was no exception."
With the wins on Saturday, the Bulldogs move back above .500 at 4-3. They have two more non-conference games this week before opening up KCAC play the following week. They will be on the road Wednesday at Mid America Nazarene University for a 7:00 pm match up and then wrap up the week in the home opener on Saturday against Texas Wesleyan University at 2:00 pm.
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