Northwest: Beat it

By Thomas Huitt-Johnson

Tahler Johnston kills the ball in the third set of Western’s second conference home game. The Griffons defeated the Bearcats in split games Tuesday night.

Before the fifth game ended, Missouri Western looked flustered.

Down by four, the Griffons needed a spark in order to defeat their MIAA rival Northwest Missouri State. But instead of one player in particular garnering the change, a team effort for Western was all it needed.

Western defeated Northwest in a five-game set Tuesday in the Looney Complex. With the victory, the Griffons improved to .500 in the conference and 9-7 overall.

“The energy that we brought here was better [than last week's],” coach Frederick said. “The carry over from Texas was we still had a little bit of ball control issues. That’s something we’ve got to get under control.”

Although the Griffons won the first game, the following game didn’t look like the same team. Western showed little energy, in contrast to its opponent.

“It’s really common to see, where you get up 1-0, and you kind of relax a little bit,” said Frederick, who is in his third season as the coach. “I’m happy to see towards the end of the game they’ll stick with it and finish out the match.”

Western finished Northwest in the final game, though it had trouble early. With his team down 8-5, Frederick called a timeout and the team rallied around each other to finish out the game on a 10-4 run and win 15-12. Western won each of its other two games 25-19. It lost the second game 25-18 and the fourth 25-14.

Torey Lyman led the team in digs with 14. Steadily behind her with 12 was freshman Sarah Faublel.

“It’s such a big deal since they’re our rivals, and we’re glad that we got it accomplished,” Faubel said. She also gave credit to senior Tahler Johnston, who tied Shelby Corkill with 14 kills, which led the game.

“She’s such a star player and she brings so much energy and team leadership to our team.”

Johnston was one of four players who had double-digit digs. Besides the aforementioned Faubel, Lyman and Johnston, Stephanie Hattey had 10 digs herself.

The 2010 MIAA Freshman of the Year had 48 assists to help Western win and secure its third straight home win over the Bearcats.