ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
The Tabor College volleyball team swept Saint Mary in three games Saturday at Leavenworth, 30-27, 30-14, 30-20.
“We started out passing poorly, and it took us until point 21 to undo the damage we did early on in the first game,” coach Amy Ratzlaff said. “After we won the first game, the good volleyball team I knew I brought along with me took over and played better the rest of the game.”
Leading Tabor attack was Staci Whitcomb with 12 kills and Lindsey Vogts with eight.
Anne Gunden topped the team with 27 assists in 65 sets.
Defensively, Erin Loewen was credited with 11 digs and Whitcomb nine. Jill Hein had eight digs and a team-high eight blocks.
“This was a solid conference week for us,” Ratzlaff said. “We knew this week would be very important in the race to the end.
“Next week we need to buckle down and play good volleyball to earn the right to be called champions and build momentum going into the KCAC tournament.”
With the win, Tabor improved to 18-10 overall and 14-2 in KCAC play.
Sterling-Tabor continued its winning ways Thursday night with a three-game sweep of Sterling College on Parents’ Night.
Tabor won its 13th straight match over the Warriors, 30-28, 30-25, 30-13.
“Sterling played pretty well the first game,” coach Amy Ratzlaff said. “It looked like they came in ready to go and they were hitting the ball at us, but we didn’t play our greatest game in the first game either.
“We definitely picked up our game as the night went along and they let theirs go.”
Ratzlaff said the Warriors were a formidable opponent, coming in with an 8-6 conference record and wins over both Ottawa and Bethel.
Tabor was led once again by sophomore standout Staci Whitcomb, who recorded 14 kills, and Lindsey Vogts, who added 10.
Whitcomb leads the KCAC in kills with 310 in 88 games.
Ratzlaff said the Bluejays’ proficiency on attack is evident in its kill percentage, which is the number of kills minus errors and divided by attempts.
“That tells you every time you touch the ball, what percentage of those balls are becoming actual kills,” she said.
Vogts performed at 45 percent against Sterling, followed closely by Whitcomb and Jill Hein who both came in at 31 percent.
“Anything above 25 per cent is exceptional,” Ratzlaff said. “That’s maximizing our opportunities and being effective.”
Tabor leads the conference in attack percentage at 23.1.
“That comes from studying the other team and knowing where to hit the ball,” Ratzlaff said. “We’ve worked hard this year to understand the only way to win a ball game is to put the ball down on the floor.
“A great hit means nothing if you don’t end the play.”
Feeding the front line hitters is Anne Gunden, who was picked as setter-of-the-week in the KCAC and for Region IV.
“The fact she was regional setter-of-the-week is a great honor,” Ratzlaff said. “She had a tremendous week and against Sterling she had 13 assists per game.
“Anything above 12 is phenomenal.”
Gunden leads the conference in assists with 1,133, averaging 11.76 per contest.
One area the Bluejays have been working to improve is transitioning between offense and defense.
“We did that well for the first time in the third game, and it’s the first time I’ve seen us do that consistently,” Ratzlaff said.
“Not transitioning is the sign of a new team, and hopefully we’re getting to the point where we’ll become more consistent.”
Ratzlaff said the importance of playing each match without a letdown is evident in the conference standings, where Ottawa trails Tabor by one game in the loss column.
“We can’t take anyone lightly or anything for granted,” she said. “You have to take it seriously at this point in the season.
“If we lose another match and Ottawa wins out, they’ll win the tie breaker and we’d have to play the post-season tournament finals on the road-and we certainly don’t want to do that.”
Coming–Tabor was scheduled to host Bethany on Tuesday for Senior Night and will travel to Southwestern for the regular-season finale on Thursday.
On the line is the top seed in the post-season tournament and home-court advantage.
The KCAC post-season winner advances to regionals at Dordt, Iowa.