TC volleyball goes 3-0, downs Region IV rival Newman

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
The Tabor College volleyball team stepped out of Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play Friday night with a home win against Kansas Newman in a pivotal Region IV matchup.

When the smoke cleared, Tabor had defeated the Jets, 21-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-27.

“We beat Newman last year in a little bit of an upset so I don’t think our slow start had anything to do with our mentality,” coach Amy Ratzlaff said. “We were a little mismatched in the opening game and weren’t as strong.”

After falling in the opener, Ratzlaff said the Bluejays tweaked their lineup and the changes paid dividends.

“We put up different hitters against some of their better blockers and we put up different blockers against some of their better hitters,” Ratzlaff said. “We matched up great after that and they never changed.”

Staci Whitcomb, last week’s Player-of-the-Week in the KCAC, led Tabor with 12 kills, as did Lindsey Vogts.

Tabor’s attack percentage was a modest .259, but Ratzlaff wasn’t worried.

“You’re going to have a lower attack percentage when you play a team that blocks as well as Newman,” she said. “Their middle blocker is terribly effective.”

Anne Gunden, last week’s Setter-of-the-Week in the KCAC, led the Bluejays with 26 assists while Audrey Schellenberg added 12.

“We played a 6-2 for the first two games and went to a 5-1 in the second two games,” Ratzlaff said. “I felt like Anne probably played one of her best matches I’ve ever seen her play. Her third and fourth games were phenomenal.”

On defense, Tabor recorded 17 blocks. Vogts and Jill Hein each had four.

“Our blocking picked up as the night went along,” Ratzlaff said. “Newman has good setters, so that makes it more difficult to read where the ball is going.

“Defensively, I felt like we did a better job of picking up some of the harder hits than we have in the past. I didn’t feel great about our blocking, but I felt great about our defense, so I’ll trade that out.”

With the important Region IV win, Tabor improves to 13-10 for the season.

“They came in ranked ahead of us in Region IV and this should-I say should-jump us over them in the regional ranking,” Ratzlaff said. “Plus, this makes a statement because Newman just beat College of the Ozarks, who was ranked third in the region.

“This is great publicity for us,” she added. “Our crowd was great considering this was a Friday night and there was a home football game in town.”

Saint Mary-Tabor defeated Saint Mary in Leavenworth Thursday, 30-19, 30-23, 30-11.

“We made a lot of uncharacteristic errors in this match,” coach Amy Ratzlaff said. “This match was not one of our most shining moments of volleyball, but the women got the job done.”

Tabor’s attack percentage was .386, but Ratzlaff said the numbers were deceiving.

“For the amount of hits we errored on, it just felt like that number could have been higher,” Ratzlaff said. “We had a number of opportunities where we could have put the ball down because there wasn’t a block up, but we didn’t get it done.”

Ashley Malcolm led Tabor with 10 kills. Lindsey Vogts added nine to Bluejays’ 45.

“Ashley was swinging really hard in this match,” Ratzlaff said. “I don’t think they were as prepared for her as well as they were for Staci (Whitcomb).”

Ann Gunden led Tabor with 20 assists while Audrey Schellenberg added 13.

On defense, Jill Hein recorded seven of Tabor’s 14 blocks.

“Jill wasn’t feeling the greatest, but she did great,” Ratzlaff said. “You have to hand it to her because she didn’t feel good but still got the job done. I really appreciate that from my women.”

With the victory, Tabor improved to 12-10 overall and 10-1 in KCAC play.

“Any road win is good,” Ratzlaff said. “Just take it and run, as they say, and getting it done in three games was big as well.”

McPherson-Tabor defeated McPherson in a rare Monday-night match Oct. 10, 30-22, 30-26, 29-31, 30-19.

“Playing on a Monday caused us to practice on Sunday, which I don’t like to do. But I don’t think playing on Monday was any big deal,”coach Amy Ratzlaff said. “Any away game you have to get yourself more mentally prepared for, regardless of what day of the week it falls on.”

Tabor’s attack was led by Staci Whitcomb, who recorded 18 kills, and Lindsey Vogts who added 16 of Tabor’s 67.

Tabor’s attack percentage was .246

“Toward the end of the match, we started running a variety of hits, which made a difference in our offensive efficiency,” Ratzlaff said. “Our fourth game score reflected we finally got our middles going.”

Setting the offensive table was Anne Gunden with 40 assists.

“Anne was more effective (Monday night) than I’ve seen before,” Ratzlaff said of her senior setter. “She did a super, super job. Her last two matches were definitely two of her stronger matches this season.”

As a team, Tabor racked up nine service aces, led by Johannah Love with three.

On the other side of the net, the Bluejays recorded 107 digs as four players reached double figures: Whitcomb 21, Traci Neufeld 17, Jill Hein 16 and Love 13.

“McPherson put a lot of balls very short in our court in front of the 10-foot line through tipping and off-speeds, so it took us a little while to get acclimated to that,” Ratzlaff said.

Vogts and Hein led Tabor with six blocks each; the team totaled 18.

“McPherson is a very good ball club, but they play a very different style than the other good teams we play,” Ratzlaff said. “McPherson made very few errors so they didn’t give us anything free. It was a good test for us.”

Coming- Tabor was to host Sterling on Tuesday before hosting Bethany College on Thursday with Parents Night festivities.

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