Bluejays 1-3 at Missouri Valley

The Tabor College volleyball team went 1-3 at the Missouri Valley Tournament Friday and Saturday.

Two of Tabor?s losses were in five sets, providing valuable learning experience for the young Bluejays.

?I really feel like we should’ve had both of those wins,? coach Amy Ratzlaff said. ?Whenever you get into a fifth set, having a court full of new players makes it hard to win those sets. There?s a lot that we?re learning about ourselves.

?We just need to continue to get to know who we are as a team and know what our strengths are in order to be able to win those tight games, and we will.?

The Bluejays opened tournament play against the host school Friday and lost, 3-0.

In Set 1, the Bluejays fell behind at the start and never could make up the distance. The Vikings ended with a 7-1 run to claim a 25-14 victory.

Set 2 was a back-and-forth battle. Consecutive kills by Tena Loewen tied the game at 23, but the Vikings used two kills to win, 25-23.

In Set 3, a 4-3 Bluejay lead turned into an 11-4 deficit, and the Vikings cruised to a 25-13 victory. Tabor had just four kills in the set.

Loewen had 12 kills on .381 hitting. Katie Frankenbery had 13 assists.

Tabor then battled Graceland, a team receiving votes, to five sets but lost, 3-2.

The Bluejays won Set 1, 25-19 and Set 2, 25-20. Graceland, however, battled back to win Sets 3 and 4 by a combined four points (25-23, 26-24). Tabor lost Set 5, 15-8.

Loewen had 18 kills. Keeley Kroeker had 20 assists. Frankenbery added 19. Horner had 23 digs.

Saturday, the Bluejays began with a three-set victory over Central Methodist.

Tabor never trailed in Set 1 en-route to a 25-19 victory and won Set 2, 25-21.

The teams battled to a 9-9 tie in Set 3 before Tabor pulled ahead with a 7-1 run. The Eagles drew within one, but Tabor built to the finish, polishing the 25-22 win with a Horstick kill.

Tabor hit .204 as a team. Loewen had 13 kills, Frankenbery had 19 assists, and Horner added 13 digs.

The Bluejays concluded tournament play with a five-set loss to Avila.

Tabor appeared to be firmly in control at the start, winning the first two sets, 25-12 and 25-20. But Avila took the next two, 25-22 and 25-18, and claimed the win with a 16-14 victory in Set 5.

Tabor tallied 58 kills. Loewen had 20 kills. Horstick added 16 and Horner, 11. Frankenbery had 23 assists. Keeley Kroeker added 22. Horner had 31 digs.

?It was a really good tournament for us to start with,? Ratzlaff said. ?All of the teams there were quality teams. It was good for us to play that before we enter conference so we could really see what we need to work on.?

Coming?Tabor will kick off conference play by hosting Bethel tonight at 7 p.m. There will be no junior varsity game.

The Bluejays will participate in the Kansas Wesleyan tournament Saturday and Sunday.

Tags from the story
, , ,
Written By
More from Janae Rempel
KCAC coaches pick TC 3rd in soccer, volleyball
The 2014 KCAC coaches? polls for men?s and women?s soccer and volleyball...
Read More