The Tabor volleyball team extended its win streak to five matches with a 4-0 sweep at the first KCAC Mid-Season Tournament in Hutchinson on Friday and Saturday.
The wins improved Tabor’s record to 13-3 and into a second-place tie with Ottawa for second place in the KCAC, and 18-7 overall.
“With the addition of teams to the KCAC, we were running out of play dates to fit all the schools into the schedule,” coach Amy Ratzlaff said about the new event.
“The mid-season tournament was created to alleviate some of the scheduling issues,” she added. “All matches will count toward conference rankings. Each team pooled two home games and two away games into the tournament—so we will lose two home matches this year, but we will also have to travel two fewer times.”
On Friday, the Bluejays swept both Bethany and Southwestern in the minimum three sets, but on Saturday the Bluejays needed all five sets to defeat both Saint Mary and Sterling.
In Friday’s match with Bethany (25-23, 25-20, 25-16), Tabor outhit the Swedes .229 percent to .089 percent, including a .345 percent in the second set.
Sydney Peitz led the Jays with a .357 attack percentage while accumulating seven kills. Amy Horner led the team with 13 kills, and hit .303 percent on her attacks.
Keeley Kroeker and Megan Voth both totaled 15 assists, while Ali Jost and Horner paced the team in digs with 14 and 10, respectively.
Against Southwestern (25-12, 25-15, 25-15), the Bluejays outhit the Moundbuilders, .218 percent to .040 percent, and chalked up a 40-14 assist advantage.
Jessanna Nebel led Tabor with 12 kills and a .348 hitting percentage. Keeley Kroeker led in assists with 22, while Jost had 26 digs to lead in that category.
Saturday’s matches stiffened considerably. Against USM (19-25, 25-17, 27-25, 23-25, 15-11), neither team hit particularly well: .144 for Tabor, .107 for USM. But a lot of that can be contributed to strong defense.
Horner collected 21 kills while hitting .278 percent and contributed 20 digs. Nebel added 11 kills, while Voth led with 33 assists and Jost had 26 digs.
In the finale match, Tabor claimed the win against Sterling (25-23, 12-25, 25-14, 24-26, 15-12) despite getting outhit .164 percent to .157 percent.
Four Bluejays finished with double-digit kills: Horner (21), Kendra Kroeker (17), Nebel (12) and Peitz (10).
Voth handed out 34 assists and Keeley Kroeker was right behind with 27. Jost and Horner were again big on defense with 33 and 22 digs, respectively.
Coming—Tabor will try to avenge a loss to McPherson (10-6, 14-8) earlier in the season, playing this time on the Bluejays’ home court starting at 5 p.m. Oct. 20.
Tabor will travel to Ottawa (13-3, 19-8) Oct. 25 to take on the Braves with a 7 p.m. start. Tabor defeated the Braves earlier this season.
