Ladies Grab First Conference Win
It has been several years since the Faith volleyball team has had opportunity to participate in a conference match. Throughout the 1970s and up to the late 1990's Faith was a member of the Midwest Christian Conference and found themselves returning back to their roots hosting and defeating Central Christian College from Moberly, Missouri 3-1. Faith used a sometimes efficient offense with steady defense with 66 digs to capture the win. "It is great to be back in the conference. It gives our players another reason for preparing and creating or renewing old rivalries," noted coach Nihart.
The Eagles quickly gained control of the match in set one winning 25-16 behind season leader Julia Bray with 4 kills and 2 blocks. Freshmen JoJo Hodak has continued her improvement with 3 kills and 7 digs.
Set two was a mirror of the first with Faith winning again 25-16 but with different results. Senior Ariel Dicks contributed 3 kills and a 43% attack and sophmore Jenna Smith adding 3 with a 33% attack. Faith then stumbled, losing set three 21-25. The Eagles quickly fell behind by large margins throughout the match and did not make a push until the score was at 23-15. The Eagles got within 24-21 but could not hold off Central Christian. A low 11% attack and only 15 digs along with slow feet caused problems. "We need to keep remembering how to mentally overcome mistakes. We have the choice to move past them and respond, we are getting better but still we tend to linger on our mistakes," noted Nihart.
Faith captured the win in set 4 25-20 pulling away at the end of the match. Hodak led the Eagles in the win with 16 digs and 8 kills while Bray added 14 kills. "I thought we did a good job of getting through the match. Central has a very frustrating offense to defend and we came forward when we needed to especially in the fourth set with our serving," noted Nihart. The Eagles now stand 6-6 on the year and 1-1 in MCC standings.
Faith travels to Lincoln, Nebraska Tuesday to face Union College and then will host Barclay College from Haviland, Kansas on Friday in another MCC contest. The Eagles finish the week traveling to Waldorf College on Saturday to participate in dual matchups with Haskell College.
