Archive for the ‘Volleyball’ Category

As a program that has been looked upon as a rebuilding program, Western volleyball looks to change that into a consistent and winning team in 2010.
Read more: Veteran leaders anchor squad

The last game for Madison Benton and Allison Smith in Griffon uniforms was a microcosm of the season for the Griffon volleyball team. At some times, they looked good and played well together. And at other times, they struggled to get anything going on offense and played below their potential.

The Griffons lost their 22nd game of the year by a score of 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-11 and 25-17) against the 19th ranked Truman State Bulldogs. In the opening, it was close, but ultimately belonged to the Griffons. In the first set, the Griffons had 11 kills to the Bulldogs 10. Western also took advantage of the six service errors committed by the Bulldogs. The Griffons looked to carry their smart play from the first set into the second set.

The first set score along with the Griffons smart play was also carried over into second set. Only this time, Western was on the wrong side of the score. Truman State had 13 kills in the second set and hit .312. Benton led the Griffons at the halfway point with 20 set assists while sophomore Alex Behnke topped the team with seven kills.

The third and fourth set saw a big dropoff in play from Western. The Griffons would fall in the third set 25-11. In that set, the team only had six kills and hit .074. The last set in the regular season for Western was about the same as the third. The Bulldogs finished the day out-digging Western 58-53 and also having nine blocks to Western’s five.

Benton believes that the reason for the loss was because the team was pressing in the third and fourth set.

“In the third and fourth sets we were too worried about winning,” Benton said. “We started playing safe instead of playing our own game, and they took advantage of that.”

Smith feels the team failed to reach its potential.

“We fell back into some old habits which is something we worked really hard to get away from,” Smith said. “That is why I was dissappointed after the game, because we didn’t play to our potential.”

The team might have lost their last game of the season, but they might have lost more in losing Benton who had 1,048 assist this year and Smith who had 232 kills total and 1.89 a game.

The records might not have always been good, but it was still a great experience for the two seniors.

“I enjoyed my time playing at Western,” Benton said. “It was difficult at times since I had four different coaches in five years, but the coaches this year did a great job of making me love the game all over again and my passion for the game was the strongest it has been since my freshman year here. I owe a lot of that to them.”

“This season will be a memorable one for me,” Smith said. “Who could forget a season in which we beat Northwest at ever opportunity?”

Despite the struggles throughout the season, both seniors impacted the team during their time at Western and will be greatly missed by the rest of their teammates next season.

The Missouri Western volleyball team lost to 6th ranked Central Missouri last Saturday 3-0 (25-17, 25-17 and 25-19). This was a disappointment to the team and fans, considering the team’s upset win against 20th ranked Nebraska-Omaha on the night before. With this loss, Missouri Western’s record comes to 10-21 overall and 3-15 in the MIAA.

Missouri Western had high hopes against Central Missouri, but fell short. Alex Behnke attributes the loss to Western’s own faults.

During the volleyball team’s game against Central, sophomore Britny Pearl digs a ball as junior Meghan Voelz looks on. Western lost the game 3-0 after upsetting UNO the night before. Photo | Marty Ayers

The Griffons seemed to come out flat against the Jennies and they were never able to take control of the game, losing 25-17 in the first two sets. The hitting percentage for the Griffons during the first two sets were not good: -.022 and .143. Western did manage to turn it around in the third set. Unfortunately, hitting .310 with 16 kills was not enough to offset UCM .366 hitting percentage.

That’s not to say that they didn’t play hard; they managed to rally from a 5-point deficit in each game to tie, but were unable to keep the momentum, and ended up losing in all three sets. Central Missouri was a tough team, controlling the match, and the Griffons struggled under the pressure.

Setter Madison Benton thought that the team played too safe and were not aggressive enough.

“We were confident Friday (UNO), but today we didn’t play up to our potential and we play way too safe,” Benton said. “We were not the team we usually are; it was disappointing. They (Central Missouri) are a good team and we lost our confidence. It was a tough match.”

Head coach Cory Frederick agreed with Benton.

“Central is a very good team,” Frederick said. “They don’t make mistakes and they play great defense. We also didn’t play up to our potential. We came out sloppy and slow. We just weren’t playing well. We also tried several strategies by switching blockers onto the outside hitters, but every time we switched our blockers the other hitter would light up the scoreboard. We couldn’t get many stops, and when we did, we faltered on offense. It was a letdown considering how well we played against 20th ranked UNO on Friday.”

For the match, the Griffons hit .140 with 36 kills on 129 attacks. Madison Benton finished with 30 set assists and as a team the Griffons had 60 digs. Britny Pearl managed a match high record with 18 digs.

The Griffons next two matches will be a home game against heated rival Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. and Truman State University on the Saturday, Nov. 14 at 2:00 p.m.