“It was a surprise,” Athletic Director Kurt McGuffin said. ”It was a family move. His wife is a pharmacist and she got offered a job she couldn’t turn down.  It was a financial thing; he has two little kids. He wanted to spend more time with his family.”

The move comes very late in the year and leaves McGuffin less than ideal time to find a replacement as jobs for fall coaching positions are usually filled in the early winter months.  Despite the timing, McGuffin doesn’t want to rush a new hire. He plans to meet with the players individually this week and come to a resolution of whether to look internally or search for new candidates from outside of Western.

Frederick compiled a 37-72 record at Western after taking over a team that won only four games in the season before he took over the head coaching position.  The Griffons showed gradual improvement each season under Frederick and went 16-16 last season in one of the most competitive volleyball conferences in Division II.

“He did a good job of progressing each year and this fifth year I was getting ready to see good things,” McGuffin said. “They basically have the whole group back so I think they are going to be pretty good.”

Although he would have liked to know sooner, McGuffin still feels he can find the right candidate to replace Frederick and has already begun receiving phone calls from coaches inquiring about the position.

“I think our jobs are pretty well sought after,” he said.

The players usually sign their scholarships before going home for the summer, which is another reason why the late timing presents a challenge for McGuffin to find the replacement.

Frederick came to Western after winning a men’s national championship at Park University in 2008.  He coached nine All-MIAA selections in his tenure with Western including Stephanie Hattey who has been an all conference team selection in each of her three seasons including winning the Freshman of the Year award in 2010.

The Missouri Western State University girls Volleyball team have said goodbye to their senior players for the last time.

Missouri Western Volleyball said goodbye to their two seniors on Nov. 6 as they made it a night they won’t forget for some time.

Western hosted Quincy University Tuesday night for its final home match of the season and to honor their seniors. Prior to the game, the senior outside hitters, Torey Lyman and Lindsey Williams, were presented with framed jerseys before they played their last match in MWSU Fieldhouse.

However, Williams had torn three of the four ligaments in her knee and has been out for about half of the season while Lyman had been out with a stress facture in her leg. Later in the season, Lyman returned to the court but was sidelined again due to a sprained ankle.  So unfortunately on the night that meant to honor them and their accomplishments, neither of them actually suited up to play.

But that didn’t keep them from cheering on their team to victory.

Western started out sluggish and fell quickly to Quincy. With only eight kills to the Hawks 13, the Griffons lost the first set 21-25.

Switching sides seemed to do a lot for the Griffons. With their backs against the wall, the Griffons kicked it into high gear in the second set, having four blocks and 17 digs to Quincy’s 14. They made it an even match with a 25-21 win in the second set.

With the match even, Western was ready to keep their momentum going. They had 11 kills on the Hawks seven and 15 digs. The Griffons claimed the third set 25-16.

The Griffons quickly made it clear that they wanted the victory. A quick 25-19 sweep helped Western claim the win and improve them to a 15-15 record.

Outstanding players on the night were freshman Jessie Thorup with 14 kills, Stephanie Hattey with 15 digs and Jordan Chohon with 28 assists. One of the highlights included claiming the match point off of an opponent’s head.

Lyman, a business marketing major and management minor, recorded two years at Johnson County Community College before becoming a Griffon. There, she was named First Team All-Region VI selection and Second Team All-East Jayhawk Conference. In her career at Western, she played in 45 matches. She also collected 12 assists, 96 kills, 29 service aces and 378 digs. Lyman plans on working at a golf course and being the sports marketing person there.

“[Being a Griffon] has been awesome,” Lyman said. “It’s been a good transition, coming from a junior college. It’s hard to go from playing with one team for two years and then transferring to come play for a completely different team. But it’s been great.”

Williams, a biology major, was also a two-year transfer student from JUCO. She played for Butler Community College her first two seasons where she was named Second Team All-Jayhawk Conference in 2010 and broke Butler’s record for aces in a career. During her last serve (that happened to be an ace), she suffered a seasoning-ending knee injury on Sept. 14 against Missouri Southern.

Williams wants to become a physical therapist.

“Our teammates have made it really good transition-wise,” said Williams. “The people around campus and the other Griffon athletes are really just nice people. They remind us of the people back home in Kansas.”

With both of the seniors being JUCO transfers, they haven’t had much time to prove themselves as players. Coach Cory Frederick noted the unfortunate circumstance of both of the seniors playing on their senior night.

“Both Torey and Lindsey have been busting their butts and they were doing a great job for us,” Frederick said.

The Griffons will finish off their season on the road against Pittsburg State and Southwest Baptist.

The Griffons came out looking strong and confident from the very beginning. The first set was all but easy for the Bulldogs, as they didn’t even gain the lead until the score was 20-19. It was defense that held it together, forcing the Bulldogs to get their points from kills; 20 of the 25 points were from kills.

The second set looked about as good as it could get for the Griffons. For the first time in a long time, there were smiles on the court. They looked more comfortable and relaxed than they have all year. Stephanie Hattey could easily notice the good vibes.

“We need to just play relaxed; we get too uptight and then we don’t play very well,” Hattey said. “We played relaxed tonight and our passing was awesome. I have to give them props for that. Our passing was amazing.”

Hattey finished the night with eight kills, 26 assists and 15 digs. She wasn’t the only one who felt the passing helped. Freshman Jessie Thorup felt that the good passing led to other good things for the Griffons.

“We were playing really well together as a team,” Thorup said, “and passing really well helped us with our offense, and that took them out of system, which helped out our blocking.”

Thorup led the Griffons with 10 kills on the night.

Early on, the Griffons seemed to have passed some of their season-long issues onto the Bulldogs side. There were communication issues for the Bulldogs — communication issues that led to holes in the defense. The Griffons had no problem finding those holes. The Griffons were able to take the second set, showing the No. 15 team in the nation that they weren’t going to walk out with an easy win.

The Griffons looked much more like the team to beat tonight. If someone knew nothing about these two teams, except one was a .500 win team and the other was ranked No. 15 in the nation, they wouldn’t have been able to tell which team was which.

One thing the Bulldogs clearly had on the Griffons was taking advantage of mistakes at the net. There were multiple times that bumps from the Griffons would be just a little long and float over the net. Those felt like give away points to the Bulldogs, as they made a kill out of most of them.

The third set was a similar story for the most part, coming right down to the end. All three of the first sets could have easily been swung either way, as it all depended on who was on a hot streak at the end. Both teams had an equal share of mistakes, and both teams would capitalize well anytime the other team made one.

The forth set was unfortunately a remembrance of old problems for the Griffons. It was the little things that ate away at the scoreboard. Communication problems, inaccurate hits, positioning problems and errors were adding up and frustrating the team. Coach Cory Frederick didn’t know what was happening in the last set.

“For whatever reason I think we looked uptight mentally,” Frederick said. “Truman didn’t do anything different to us when we were getting digs in the fourth game, we were having trouble putting up a good hittable ball if it wasn’t our setter. That’s where we really seemed to struggle.”

Even though the fourth set wasn’t what the Griffons wanted to end on, there were plenty positive things to take away from this game.

“I think the team, for whatever reason, came out and played relaxed,” Frederick said. “Practices have been helping this week so hopefully it will continue on this weekend.”

Meredith McCormick and Stephanie Hattey prepare for the next play against Nebraska-Kearney on Oct. 16.

It was hard to find anything positive to take from Missouri Western’s loss against Nebraska-Kearney (25-8, 25-16, 25-18) on Tuesday, Oct. 13.; The Lopers walked into MWSU Fieldhouse ranked fifth in the nation.

Kearney was in complete control for the majority of the night. The Lopers didn’t show any weaknesses in the first set, where they jumped to a quick 9-point run in the beginning and maintained that intensity throughout the set. Defensively, the Lopers held the Griffons to just three total kills and eight points. Coach Cory Frederick saw a lot of things that the Griffons don’t have at this point in the season to compete against teams like Kearney.

“Right now, we’re not ready to play at that level and there’s no question about it,” Frederick said. “I think when we just let go and play, we can hang with teams like that, but we just have to get more experience before we can be ready for that caliber of a team.”

The second set may have looked a little more promising, but unfortunately still wasn’t the ideal game that the Griffons were hoping for. They racked up 10 team kills and doubled their score, but were still nowhere close enough to steal a win. The Lopers’ explosive offense was showing to be too much to handle. Sophomore Meredith McCormick believed that the Griffons didn’t show what the team was really capable of early on.

“We didn’t come out as strong as we can or should of,” McCormick said. “With a team like that, and them being ranked so high and so good, we didn’t have anything to lose, and we definitely did not come out that way.”

The first two sets may have seemed disheartening for the Griffons, but the third set showed a lot more of what the Griffons are capable of. They came out strong, aggressive and really made the Lopers earn the last set. Although it was too little to late, the Griffons were playing better as the game went on; the team added up 10 kills, 19 digs and three blocks in the final set. Jessie Thorup, who had a team high seven kills, saw the spark at the end as a positive for the Griffons, and believes it will help in another tough game they have this week.

“In that third set, we really challenged them and did the things we needed to do,” Thorup said. “I think after seeing how we played against them in that third set, we know how we can play against Washburn. So if we continue to play like that, we’ll do a lot better.”

The Griffons looked on top of their game despite the absence of two key freshmen players, Melissa Cairns and Holly Pollock. Cairns recently tore her labrum in her left hip, and is currently day-to-day. Pollock has been suffering from strep throat, a double ear infection and a sinus infection all at the same time, according to coach Cory Frederick. Freshman Jessie Thorup continued to play well, even with her fellow freshmen sitting out.

“I think it helps to know we have a lot of options,” Thorup said. “If someone is not playing well or if someone is hurt, we’ll always have someone to fill those spots.”

Junior Stephanie Hattey continued to be outstanding all around. Hattey finished the week with 26 kills, 73 assists and 45 digs in three matches. She believes after a rough time so far in MIAA play, the team could be turned around and headed in the right direction.

“[Against Truman] we had a pep talk and decided to play the way we’ve been playing in practice,” Hattey said. “Even though we lost, we played like a team and we hustled every ball, we didn’t let any drop. Today we let up a little more, but hopefully we can keep it up and keep it going. I think the more games we play the more we grow, so we’ll get better as the season goes on.”

Frederick sees the change the team has made and sees them learning and gaining more confidence in themselves.

“Rockhurst is 12-2, they’re a good team and there is no doubt about it,” Frederick said. “So far the Rockhurst loss has been a good one for us because it helped us focus on some things that we really need to work on. We made some adjustments and played pretty good against [Truman], but unfortunately couldn’t put that one away in the end, which I think is some of that is still the youth and developing.”

Fortunately for both Frederick and the players, the lineup has changed so many times this season already that when key players are forced out of the game, there is no added pressure on the remaining players, according to Frederick.

The Griffons are currently sitting at 9-7 on the season. They will be getting back into tournament play Oct. 5 in the Washburn Crossover Tournament. So far, the Griffons have a record of 6-2 when it comes to tournament play.

Sarah Faubel spikes the the ball in the contest against the Southwest Baptist Bearcats.

Central Missouri–3       Missouri Western–0
(25-19, 25-23, 25-12)

The Jennies came into MWSU Fieldhouse ranked No. 8 in the nation, and played like they were. The offensive game plan was too much for the Griffons to counter. Throughout the night they utilized the height of their main setter, Julia Bates, to keep the Griffons guessing on if she was going to assist or just slam it down. Bates ended the game with 35 assists and eight kills. Coach Cory Frederick knew what needed to be done to stop it, but the girls just didn’t seem to respond well.

“We just didn’t play very smart,” Frederick said. “To be straight forward honest, we just weren’t prepared for whatever reason to move on those balls. We knew what they were going to do, and we just didn’t look like we were ready to play.”

The Griffons put up a good fight for the first two sets, but looked slow and out of place in the third and final set.

Missouri Western–3     Lindenwood–1
(19-25, 26-24, 25-17, 25-14)

The Griffons really gave us a scare early against the Lindenwood Lions. This was a game that was probably considered a must-win for the Griffons, who had lost five of their last seven games coming into this one. The Griffons looked a little rattled still from the night before, but got much better throughout the game.

Junior Stephanie Hattey had another great weekend, racking up a total of 14 kills, 34 assists and 36 digs between the two games.

“We beat Lindenwood by forgetting about the last game against UCM,” Hattey said. “We decided to not pay attention to the score and just play to the best of our abilities, and it worked.”

Sophomore Amanda Boender did not play the night before due to sickness, but provided some explosiveness for the Griffons and finished with nine kills.

“It’s always a different perspective when you don’t play,” Boender said. “You forget how it feels to not get to be out on the court, and you really appreciate being able to play.”

Meredith McCormick (4) and Erin Backhuus (5) attempt a block against UCM middle hitter.

Missouri Western volleyball beats Missouri Southern in last weekends match 5-19, 25-15, 25-20

The weekend was split for Griffons as they beat Missouri Southern State (25-19, 25-15, 25-20) on Sept. 14, and fall to Emporia State (28-26, 25-23, 25-20) they day after.

For playing the Lions, who came in to MWSU Fieldhouse with a record of 0-8, they sure didn’t look win less. It was a tight shootout in the beginning, but once the Griffons made adjustments, the game was more controlled.

The 5-4 Emporia Hornets were a much tougher contest, being a little more athletic than the Lions, and much more experienced. The Hornets game play seemed to mirror much of the Griffons’ style. All three sets easily could have gone either way, but the Hornets unfortunately closed out the Griffons late in the sets.

Coach Cory Frederick still sees youth as a major factor in these match-ups.

“I still thinking they are putting way to much pressure on themselves,” Frederick said. “It’s kind of one of those humps to get over with youth and we’ve got to get past that. We’re still working on it, but it’s getting better.”

Adjustments were needed after the loss to Northwest Missouri State on Sept. 11. There was more emphasis put on the player placement in practices leading up to the weekend, according to freshman Melissa Cairns, who finished the two games with a total of 18 kills.

“We worked on our positional play, like where we’re standing,” Cairns said. “Rather than just working on where we should be, we need to be reading the game more to understand where we have to be.”

Aside from the win against the Lions, the biggest thing to be happy about over the weekend was the outstanding athleticism that came from the freshman class. Between Cairns, Holly Pollock and Jessie Thorup, the three young players combined for 44 of the teams 77 kills over the weekend (22 kills both games). Fans can easily look forward to seeing this class get more comfortable and continue to grow in the future.

“We’re a solid freshman class,” Pollock said. “We all work really hard and it shows on the court, and over the next few years we’ll keep improving.”

A great student crowd, whose yells and cheers may or may not have assisted in the Lions surprisingly high of 14 serving errors, backed the team Friday. The crowd was much more thinned out, with 56 less fans the next night against the Hornets. It was obvious to everyone in attendance that there was pressure put on every Lions player as they served.

“We should get them to come back as often as they can,” Frederick said. “They definitely helped us, that’s for sure.”

On the negative side of the weekend, there was a scary moment when senior Lindsey Williams fell to the floor after an explosive jumpserve that resulted in an ace. She did not return after an apparent knee injury during her serve in the second set against Missouri Southern. There are still tests needing to be done before the team can verify if and when a possible return could be.

It’s always hard to tell with those,” Frederick said. “It could be nothing and we could get her back in a week with some rehab. If it’s a minor tear to some cartilage it could be 10 days, but if you get into some ligament damage it could probably end her career.”

The Griffons return to MWSU Fieldhouse to play Central Missouri at 7 p.m. on Sept 21, then Lindenwood at 1 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Torey Lyman serving the ball to Northwest in the home opener on Tuesday Sept. 11.

The Griffons lose their first MIAA contest at home to rival Northwest Missouri State (25-16, 19-25, 21-25, 18-25) Sept. 11.

The Griffons came back to St. Joseph hoping to start off conference play with a win, with a hot record of 6-2, the best start they’ve had since the beginning of the 2006 season where they started off 8-2. That great start took a painful turn in the heated rivalry game.

Coach Cory Frederick saw many things that need to be changed and believes the team learned a lot in this loss.

“The biggest thing was the momentum we had in game one was generated by Northwest missing some serves,” Frederick said. “That was a big thing we were talking about in the locker room, finding some ways to generate that on our side without waiting for the other team to make mistakes. It’s just growing pains with having a young team. We’ll get it figured out.”

The Griffons got off to a great start, and owned the first set without any problems.

The second set was a different story, with the two young gun teams fighting hard and staying just a couple points within each other. The momentum changed when a questionable call mid-set eventually overturned in the Bearcats’ favor, putting them up 12-10. This led to a 4-point run that ultimately was too much ground for the Griffons to make up, losing the second and third set in similar fashion. Northwest quickly jumped out to a huge lead on a crushing 13-3 run in the fourth and final set. The Griffons showed signs of life later on bringing themselves back within five, but showed to be too much for the young squad.

The first set charge was led by team leader Stephanie Hattey who had 4 kills, 10 on the night, and found help from the freshman Jessie Thorup, who also had 4 kills in the first set, with 8 on the night. The freshman showed no fear in her first MIAA battle against a rival at MWSU Fieldhouse.

“I was nervous because it was my first home game, and we had a huge crowd,” Thorup said. “I respond well to nerves most of the time. When I’m nervous I usually put that energy into the game instead of my head.”

Hattey noticed some things that occur often with young teams.

“We’re so close to each other that it’s almost a disadvantage,” Hattey said. “We’re so afraid that we are going to make each other mad from saying the wrong thing, and we need get that mentality out. If that goes away then we’ll be fine.”

Brooke Bartosh helped lead the way for Northwest with a great performance. Bartosh had 21 kills on the night, bringing her total to 107 so far in the Bearcats first 9 games.

Hopefully the team can change their MIAA luck this weekend when they play the winless Missouri Southern on Friday, and Emporia State on Saturday.

Missouri Western showed that in its final two games of the year, as it fell on the road to Pittsburg State and Southwest Baptist.

Both losses came after the Griffons defeated Truman State in five sets and beat Missouri Southern in four. Frederick said he didn’t have an answer as to why his team played the way it did, and that it will take months for him to come up with one.

“[We] got a big win against Truman State and then just fizzled at the end,” Frederick said. “If I stood up here and gave you the typical coaching spiel of ‘yeah, we’re happy with the season,’ it would be a lie overall. We were really disappointed with how things ended because I think we should have ended a lot higher than we did; we should have finished  a lot stronger.”

Western finishes Frederick’s third season as coach with a 14-17 record, his most wins since taking over. In conference, Western finished 7-11 (sixth in the conference), but there was not an MIAA tournament this season.

The Griffons graduate only three seniors — Tahler Johnston, Alex Behnke and Hannah Zimmerman — and return most of its nucleus next fall. Three freshman proved to Frederick that they could play in the MIAA and received plenty of playing time over the course of the season.

Libero Sarah Faubel and outside hitter Shelby Corkill both were slated into starters at the beginning of the year. Corkill finished the season with 293 kills, including two games in the middle of the season — Central Missouri and Pittsburg — where she not only led the team in kills, but against the Mules she posted the most kills in a game in over eight seasons for the Griffons.

Another freshman came on late to provide solid hitting. Amanda Boender ended the season with 116 kills and will be counted on more next season. Stephanie Hattey improved from a year ago, where she was named MIAA Freshman of the Year, and will more than likely keep playing as the top setter for the next two seasons.

Western has already began its recruiting as it has signed three players to come on and replace those leaving. Holly Polluck, Jessie Thorup and Jordan Chohon have all verbally agreed to come to St. Joseph and play for the Griffons.

“When we look back at the season here in a couple weeks and go over eveything, I think we’ll be pretty pleased with where some of our young players are at and what we have to look forward to in the future,” Frederick said. “We’ve got some good recruits that have submitted here this week, and I think we’ll be in good shape as we move forward.”

Coach Chad Edwards took over a team that had just six days to prepare for its first match in August.

After a full two months of engagement soccer, the season wrapped up over Halloween weekend.

Western finished with a 4-10 record, doubling its win total from a season ago. Though the team missed out on another MIAA tournament appearance, and placed last in the division, the Griffons battled through adversity with so many freshman playing and a new coach. Throughout the first 10 games, the Griffons saw a 3-7 record, where at the half they were either tied or in the lead in every game.

Edwards believes with recruiting well by adding forwards, his team will be in better shape for a post-season run next year. He also said this season will help out the future.

“I’m really proud of the way they competed,” Edwards said. “We got the culture established. I got what I’m trying to accomplish established.”

Among the seniors that played their last game in a Griffon uniform is Audrey Henderson. She leaves the program as the all-time leader in goals made with nine.

“I want to thank the four seniors especially,” Edwards said. “I’m really proud of the way they handled [this season].”

Volleyball entering final push

Coach Cory Frederick said he believes his team is playing the best volleyball they played all season.

Two straight losses could contradict that, but he said that didn’t exactly matter.

Western dropped three sets to undefeated Washburn last Saturday, one day after losing a 3-2 split set game to Emporia State. The two losses didn’t do anything to the Griffons in the conference, as they are still slated at fifth place with a 5-7 MIAA record and 12-13 overall.

“We struggled a bit last week,” Frederick said, “but we’re playing some good volleyball. Win five out of six is our goal.”

Frederick pointed to freshman Amanda Boender, who hit .667 and added 10 kills Friday nights against Emporia, as somebody who might step in and help the team over the next two weeks.

Basketball tip-off

Thursday night, both basketball teams will scrimmage for the first time at the Looney Complex, at least the first time against an opponent.

Livin’ the Dream, a pro-am basketball team out of Kansas City, Mo., will bring their talents to Western to play the Griffons.

The women’s team will tip off at 5:30 p.m. followed shortly by the men, who are scheduled to play around 7 p.m.

Tom Smith, who is one win shy of 600 total for his coaching career, is excited to see his team at home in this exhibition game.

“I’ve never had any group work harder than this group has worked,” Smith said. “I have three freshman for the first time. I can’t wait till they’re juniors. Hopefully I’m here when they’re juniors,” said Smith, who not only joked about that, but also about how he hopes to survive a sixth athletic director.

Sport: Volleyball

Year: Freshman

Position: Outside Hitter

Stats this week: Kills — 47; Digs — 41; Hitting Percentage — .242

Corkill helped the Griffon volleyball team secure three straight wins en route to their fifth place ranking in the conference. Corkill led the team in kills in two of the three games, including Friday night, when the team defeated Pittsburg State 3-2. The freshman tallied 26 kills then, which is the most kills in a game since Lindsay Fuller knocked down 28 against Central Missouri in 2003.

Against Pittsburg State Friday night, the freshman reminded him why she was recruited here.

Western defeated Pittsburg 3-2 Friday at the Looney Complex, which improved its record to 11-11. Corkill had 26 kills, the most since 2003 for a Griffon.

“That’s a great stat to hear,” Frederick said. “It’s not the best stat in the world because it also means we had to play five games. We’d prefer not to go five games.”

Western took the first game 28-26 after seniors Tahler Johnston and Alex Behnke closed the game out with a kill and a block, respectively.

The second game went to the Gorillas, but it was close, as they won 25-22. The all-important third game was settled late, when Western’s Corkill, up 22-18, killed three scores for her team to take the 2-1 advantage.

“She doesn’t even really seem to notice when she’s playing that well,” Frederick said.

That’s when drama occurred.

Up 2-1, Western nearly ended Pittsburg’s night. It took a 20-10 lead behind five straight Sarah Faubel points off aces. But Western wouldn’t hold.

Christa McCaw added her own four-kill streak, followed two Kristen Erikson attacks as the Gorillas mounted a 17-5 run to tie the game.

“We’ve got a very young team, and when things like that happen, it doesn’t continue to slide down hill,” Frederick said. “To not have those mental letdowns when we do struggle in a game like that — to be able to pick it back up — that speaks well in the future.”

In the end, it wouldn’t matter, as Western survived the outing, winning game five 15-9. Stephanie Hattey totaled 60 assists in route to the victory. Corkill said she is finally more comfortable playing college volleyball, and she showed it, hitting over .300 percentage in the win. Frederick said that is very encouraging.

The Griffons didn’t stop their weekend victories there, as they continued to improve their record.

Western holds a 12-11 record and are 5-5 in the conference, good for fifth place, after it defeated Southwest Baptist Saturday at the Looney Complex.

The Griffons controlled the game late, after falling behind 1-0.

“[The girls] relaxed a little more,” said Frederick, before he said it should continue the rest of the season. “They look more focused.”

Western went on to win the next three games. The second game was close, but the Griffons took the game by two, tying the contest at one game a piece.

The Griffons had to score over 30 points to win the third game, and they did just that, taking a 2-1 lead with a 31-29 game. The Bearcats were too tired to win the fourth game, as Western ended their night with a deciding game four win, 25-8. Corkill led the team in kills again, this time with 16. The freshman also had 18 digs.

Last Tuesday night, Western went on the road to defeat Missouri Southern State. It won 25-13, 25-21 and 25-12. The three-game win streak Western currently has comes after it fell four straight games in the past two weeks.

Both Hattey and Johnston have suffered mild injuries. However, Frederick said it hasn’t affected either player. Western has eight more games left in the regular season, with five at home.

What about this year’s soccer team? Kyle Inman sure thinks highly of them. And why not? The freshman are playing above expectations, and Missouri Western will see most of this team for the next few years.

On Thursday they played against Northwest Missouri State. They lost 5-1, as Northwest ran up the score like it were in the BCS, trying to leap frog somebody into National Championship contention.

Of course the game was tied at the half; it wouldn’t be a Western soccer game if that had not occurred. Next up was coach Chad Edwards’ alma matter — Missouri Southern State. Western lost this game as well, putting the MIAA tournament in doubt.

K.C. Ramsell hasn’t scored since the fifth game, but she is still finding ways to put the ball in position; the freshman just isn’t hitting the shot on goal as much. If Ramsell, Erin Widrig and a few other key players can score, and Kelly Voigts can continue to stand pat as goalie, the final two weeks of the regular season can see improvement.

Western plays Fort Hays State, Washburn and Emporia State next. The Griffons defeated those last two teams on the road, now they have them at home. It’s simple: Western wins the three games, it makes the tournament. If not, better luck next year.

Volleyball, never sub in until you have to

After losing three straight, the losses continued. The Griffons fell 3-1 to Hays on Friday.

Then another road game occurred when the Griffons went to Joplin to play Southern. The Griffons finally snapped the loss streak,
winning 3-0 against the Lions.

Before further analysis can occur, people must take a second and look at what Frederick has been able to do over the past three years he has been at the helm for the Griffons.

After the 2010 team finished the season with an 12-17 record, the Griffons saw three seniors graduate. Coach Cory Frederick said he would recruit hard and hard enough he did.

Sarah Fauble is making her presence known. She is like Todd Fuller to the Griffon News: very underrated.

This team also has great chemistry. Tahler Johnston is a great player. Alex Behnke is too, but both will graduate after the season. They’ll be alright.

Considering Stephanie Hattey is only going to be a better player in the next couple years, as well as Shelby Corkill and Sarah Fauble, leadership and skill shouldn’t be a problem. If only this team can take advantage of the rest of this year’s schedule, people will realize the talent they have. They also have terrific coaching, including Cory Gove, stat keeper.

Another football column 

I think I’ve written a few too many columns about Western football already this season. The players and coaches probably agree.

But does it really matter? It’s not like we’ve overwhelmed them with columns in the past.

Regarding Western’s three-game win streak, it will continue. Am I guaranteeing it? No. Am I saying it? Yes (Dwayne Bowe). Come on, if the Griffons blow a chance at improving their record to 7-2 before Halloween, it will be a monumental upset. It should make SportsCenter’s Not Top 10 list.

Despite losing to the teams they were supposed to lose to and beating the teams they were supposed to beat, the Griffons won somewhat toss-up games against Southern and Emporia. That has to be encouraging to Jerry Partridge and his staff, considering there was always “that one game” where Western would lose and jeopardize a post-season appearance.

Saturday, Western traveled to Emporia and held on to a hard-fought 22-16 victory. Western had to earn the win, and, in all seriousness, it knew that going into Emporia, because the Hornets do not lay down for any opponent. Homecoming is next.

Befriending the Enemy 

I work for the Griffon News, this is obvious. But, I also take part in the newspaper from across the town: The St. Joseph News-Press.

As an employee there, I can’t work for the Griffon News 24/7. I can only work for them 16/4 and 24/3. The other 8/4 I am a News-Press employee. Confused? Now you know how I feel.

I befriend the enemy. I play both sides. I’m like Ashton Kutcher cheating on his wife. Except, I don’t know who Demi Moore is in this situation.

I’m put in positions many times where I have to work downtown and cannot attend games. Thanks goes to my Editor-In-Chief (Dave Hon) and my boss Ross Martin (Western alum, ‘05), who understand this.

Anyway, it’s rough. Last Thursday, when Western played rival Northwest, I was unable to work for the Griffon News. I had to attend the game on behalf of the News-Press.

I had to cover Northwest for the most part, especially since it won and forward Victoria Von Mende scored a team record 10 goals this season. I still talked to the Griffon News staff who attended, including the Break Away guy, Jason Brown. I couldn’t tweet the game to the GriffonNewsCom followers, but instead, NPSportsNow followers received the game updates.

Last Saturday, this is even better, I had to attend a state quarterfinal softball game, and could not make a trip to Emporia. I then sent a tweet out to GriffonNewsCom followers to follow NPSportsNow for updates.

Oh, it’s worse: This Saturday, when everybody is attending Homecoming events and the football game, I will be at District Cross Country, covering local high school Central trying to pave its way to state. They may, because they have those Bachman twins. But anyway, scheduling conflicts again occur.

A Little Inside Info

I don’t wear glasses. Many people know this, but I needed a pair in order to take my picture.

This isn’t the News-Press, where, when they write a column, they are submitted into the paper with a full body length photo of them looking up, so that their shoes are the size of pebbles. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.

But here we have to use a real mug shot (and not a Dave Williams type of mug shot, where you actually have a reason to look eccentric).

So instead of my picture focusing on my face and who I am, I needed an object to distract the reader. Insert Prof. Bob Bergland’s glasses. Instantly, my face became a hit. Not two hours after print people were asking me about the photo.

Since I am unable to grow a beard at this point in my life, and Bergland will not let me barrow his goatee, I need a new disguise. Any help?

One last note: My computer at the Griffon News in use, so I am taking this opportunity to type from Blair Stalder’s. The only reason why I mention this: Stalder needs a reference every now and then. Everyone knows Stalder doesn’t receive enough credit. “Stadler” on the other hand …

Sport: Volleyball

Year: Sophomore

Position: Setter and Right-Side Hitter

Stats this week: Assists — 93; Digs — 33

Hattey helped keep the Griffons in both road games this week with her setting and ability to keep the volleyball in play. She led the team in digs in both games as well as maintaining her job as the setter. Hattey had all but four of her teams assists between the two games.

Western traveled to Warrensburg Friday to take on No. 8 ranked Central Missouri and was defeated 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-22).

“They are really good this year. They don’t make any mistakes; on the season they are hitting almost .350,” coach Cory Frederick said. “We are going to have to get more consistent if we are going to play with them later in the season because they just don’t make any errors.”

Alex Behnke led the way for the Griffons with 11 kills. Shelby Corkill had seven, and Tahler Johnston added six. Stephanie Hattey had 35 assists and 13 digs, leading the team in both.

Saturday the Griffons made the trip to Kirskville to take on the Truman State Bulldogs. The match was a five set battle that ended in a victory for the Bulldogs 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 12-15)

“I give Truman credit,” Frederick said. “They played much better than I’ve see them play this season. Their crowd was phenomenal, and I think that had to do with the fifth game that we lost.”

With the match tied up at 2-2, it all came down to the crucial game five. The Griffons pulled out to a quick 4-1 lead but allowed Truman to get back in it and take the lead 7-6. The Bulldogs never looked back and went on to win the fifth set 15-12.

Behnke led the Griffons in kills with 15, followed by Johnston with 14 and Hannah Zimmerman added 12. Corkill and Meredith McCormick chipped in with 11 kills each. Hattey had 58 assists and 20 digs on the day.

“I thought it was a match we should have won, we just, for some reason, could not put everything together,” Frederick said. “As soon as we would fix something, two other things would fall a part. We were having a lot of trouble with our rotations.”

According to Frederick, a win at Truman would have been helped the Griffons substantially, as it would have allowed them to move into fourth place in the MIAA conference.

“It was a rough weekend, but I think we got some good things, and we will recover,” Frederick said. “We need to get that killer mentality. Right now we are playing a little bit scared, so we are going to try and get over that. The next stretch of games are important for us, and they are all winnable.”

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.

“My whole family is very supportive,” Johnston said. “They travel to all my games and they have had the biggest impact on my life, and they will always have the biggest impact.”

Johnston leans on her father, Bernie, to help her with volleyball technique and skill and her mother, Melanie, for emotional support. If she needs someone to vent to, her mother has always been there to pick her up.

“My parents are great people,” Johnston said. ”Even when my mother was diagnosed with cancer last year and was going through chemotherapy, she still traveled to every game.”

Johnston’s mother finished chemotherapy on June 2 and is now cancer-free.

She is also extremely close with her older sister, Taryn, who was a volleyball player, too.

“I love my big sister. We talk almost every day,” Johnston said. “If she can’t make it to my games, she is always watching the live stats.”

So far this season, Johnston is not only leading the team in kills with 102 after nine matches, but she is playing the role of team leader inside the locker room.

“Tahler has stepped up her leadership this year on her own,” Coach Cory Frederick said. “When you have players that take on that leadership role internally, it makes you much more successful overall.”

Johnston wrote her team a letter before the first conference game of the year against Fort Hays State featuring motivational quotes to pump them up. She also provides ribbons for the team to wear, carrying on a tradition from high school.

“We wear yellow on our right side because that is our team color, and that’s our dominant side, so that’s what it stands for,” Johnston said.

Johnston is from Marshalltown, Iowa and lists upsetting third ranked Ames in high school to go to the state tournament as her greatest sports accomplishment.

“We were the underdog and nobody expected us to win. We went five games, and the fifth game went to 22-20,” Johnston said. “The last time the team made it to state was four years earlier when my sister played there.”

Johnston spent two years at Indian Hills Community College before becoming a Griffon. The first year was different for her because the coach had a policy that freshman couldn’t compete for a position until after half way through the season. Johnston’s second season was much more successful. There was a coaching change and her position was changed from middle to outside, a position where she thrives today.

Johnston has nothing but positive things to say about her time at Western so far.

“The girls here are awesome. Some of my closest friends have been from the team,” Johnston said. “I have always struggled with school and never really liked it, but I enjoy the school here. I recommend this school to a lot of people.”

Johnston finished second on the team in 2010 with 271 kills. She scored a career best 22.5 points against conference opponent Pittsburg State. This season is still young, but she has continued her outstanding play, making the UNK Fall Classic all-tournament team.

Johnston plans to graduate in the spring with a degree in business management and work in the human resources field.

On the last play of the match, the Griffons celebrate winning their third and final game over Fort Hayes winning the night 3-0.

The Griffon volleyball team swept conference opponent Fort Hays State  Saturday in the first home game of the season with scores of 25-17, 26-24, 25-21. The team improved their record to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in MIAA conference play.

“We looked good overall. We need to eliminate some errors that we can control on our side, but overall I’m happy with the performance,” Coach Cory Frederick said. ”We need to win all these games that we can right now.”

Seniors Tahler Johnston and Alexandra Behnke led the way for the Griffons. Johnston finished the day with 12 kills and Behnke with 11. Other contributers were Hannah Zimmerman with eight kills and Meredith McCormick and Shelby Corkill with seven kills each.

Stephanie Hattey finished with 39 of the Griffon’s 42 assists on the day. Sarah Faubel had 16 digs.

“I think it was good for the freshman and the newcomers to get a feel for what our home court was like and we will just come out stronger every time,” Johnston said.

Game one was played even by both teams with the score tied at 8-8. Western went on a run and was able to grab a 15-9 lead after a kill by Hattey. It didn’t look back and went on to win the set 25-17. Johnston had five kills in the first game.

The second game provided the biggest scare of the day for the Griffons. Western went up 5-1 in the second set after two kills from Behnke. The Tigers battled back and took a 13-12 lead and were ahead the rest of the way until the very end. With the match on the line, the Griffons kept composure and scored the last four points of the match to end it at 26-24. Western had 16 kills on the match with Behnke and Zimmerman scoring four each.

“It’s nice to see them not give up and play all the way through to the end of the game,” Frederick said. ”We had 14 errors on our side of the net during the second set, which is something we need to eliminate. I think we can make it not so close next time.”

The third set started out close, tied at nine all.  After a Western kill from Zimmerman, it took a 14-11 lead and the two teams played even until the end after that. The final score of the third game was 25-21 Griffons.

The Griffon’s next two games are both against tough MIAA conference opponents on the road. Friday they will play at Emporia State and Saturday they play at Washburn.

All Photos by: Jason Brown

For more photos see: http://www.gogriffons.com/gallery.asp?sport=Volleyball&year=2011&album=Volleyball11-FHSU9-17-11

“I’m overall happy with how everything turned out and I think we are getting closer to playing competitive with the top 25 teams every time we get on the court,” said Coach Cory Frederick.

Senior Tahler Johnston was named to the All-Tournament team for her outstanding play during the tournament.  She tallied 43 kills and 31 digs during the weekend.

“We are kind of our worst enemy right now,” Johnston said. “Nobody is outplaying us or beating us we are beating ourselves. We are making errors and we can change that and get better.”

Chadron State was the Griffons first opponent of the weekend.  Western swept all three games, winning 25-17, 25-23 and 25-23.  Freshman Shelby Corkill led the team with 13 kills in the first match.

The Griffons faced off against 5th ranked Nebraska-Kearny Lopers in their second match of the tournament.  Western was outplayed by the home team and lost the match 3-0 25-10, 25-17, 25-14.  Western was led by Johnston with nine kills, while Stephanie Hattey had 18 assists and 11 digs.

On Sunday the Griffons started the day by defeating Black Hills State 3-0 by game scores of 25-14, 25-13, 25-9. Alexandra Behnke led the Griffons with 12 kills.

“I think we played pretty well for the beginning of the season,” said freshman Sarah Faubel. “Our team has really good chemistry for being such a young team.”

The second match of Sunday featured the Griffons facing off against the 10th ranked Wayne State and was defeated 3-0 with scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-15. Johnston led the Griffons with 14 kills on the match.

Western will play its first home game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 17 against MIAA Conference opponent Fort Hays State at 4 p.m.

Frederick took over a 4-32 team in 2009 and has gone 23-39 in his two seasons as coach for the Griffons. He has increased the win total each year. In 2010 the team finished with a record of 12-17, including eight MIAA conference wins, the most for the team since 2002.

The Griffons were picked to finish eighth in the 2011 MIAA pre-season coaches poll, but Frederick hopes to exceed those expectations.

“We obviously expect to finish quite a bit higher than that,” Frederick said. “I don’t put a lot of clout into the preseason polls. We don’t know how the new players at other schools will produce, and we don’t know how our own freshmen will produce.”

The 2011 Griffons will feature seven new players on the roster. According to Frederick, the newcomers will make an immediate impact on the team.

“I’m going to bet that four or five of them see considerable playing time,” Frederick said. “They are going to challenge the returning players this year, which is what we need. Some of the returners need that boost and the challenge of someone behind them.”

The Griffons return versatile 2010 MIAA Freshman of the Year and Honorable Mention all-MIAA player Stephanie Hattey.  She will take on an increased leadership role in 2011 with the departure of some key seniors from last seasons team.

“I think she understands having a good year like last season and she is not going to let down her second year, which is always the worry of the coach,” Frederick said. “She is trying to implement those types of beliefs and attitudes to the new players already, which is great to have back.”

Hattey could compete for the MIAA Player of the Year in her just her sophomore season.

“I’m a very competitive person, so I’m going to go for it, but it’s usually only juniors and seniors who get it,”Hattey said.

Senior Tahler Johnston is the team’s returning leader in kills with 271, averaging 2.53 kills per game. She has set her expectations high for her last season as a Griffon.

“I think people picture us as the underdogs, and I think we will come out and surprise a lot of people this year,” Johnston said. “My expectations are having a better record than last year and making it to the national tournament.”

Another player that Frederick expects big things out of this season is returning senior Alexandra Behnke.

“We expect to have a lot more production out of Behnke than in the past,” Frederick said. “She has played a lot this summer and has been lifting and working out.”

Frederick knows how it feels to be a winner. He won a national championship in 2008 when he led Park University to a 29-1 record and a National Championship.

“It’s a tough thing to break a losing mentality,” Frederick said. “We are instilling the right beliefs in our players, and it seems to be working with us moving in the right direction every year.”

Last year the team had players who had been beaten year in and year out by the other MIAA teams.  Frederick said this group won’t have the preconceived notion that they are going to lose because they don’t have those experiences.

“I think that is going to make one of the biggest differences from this season to last season,” Frederick said. ”We don’t have that losing mentality anymore.”

Although the Griffons ruled the night, the match started off on a sour note, with Western losing the first set 22-25.

The Griffons only hit .182 and had chances to take over the first set but couldn’t capitalize. The second set showed off Western’s determination as they battled back and forth with the Gorillas.

Down 23-20 in the second, Hannah Zimmerman got two of her 13 kills back to back to cut the lead to one.

The team would go on to win the set 26-24. Head coach, Cory Frederick, would attribute the teams determination to their focus before the match.

“Our mind set was very relaxed as we just wanted to control what we could on our side of the net, regardless of the opponent,” Frederick said. “We had a couple of strategies that we were looking to implement into the match and the players were able to do so with very little disruption to the rest of our game.”

Members of the volleyball team celebrate after scoring. Photo | Jason Brown

The fourth set was won comfortably by Western 25-19, and the final set was highly contested but the team effort of the Griffons prevailed.

The team turned in great performances as freshman, Stephanie Hattey, had 13 kills, 25 assist and 13 digs. Tahler Johnston had a career high of 22 kills and Meghan Voelz had 16 digs.

Voelz believes the team took advantage of the Gorillas’ mishaps.

“We just tried to capitalize on their mistakes instead of focusing on ours,” Voelz said. “And Hannah and all of our pin hitters were having great games. We capitalized on their middle blockers not double blocking. I think we really took advantage of that.”

Junior Alexandra Behnke feels the win against the Gorillas shows how far the team has come.

“Well, beating Pitt State was a huge accomplishment for us. In my three years here at MWSU, we hadn’t beat them until Wednesday night,” Behnke said. “I think the fact that we came back was a huge statement in the team we are becoming. That we are able to refocus and push through the obstacles we faced.”

Their rank was enough to show that Missouri Western would probably would be in for a fight against a dominant team like Emporia State. Emporia State won all three matches, sweeping the Griffons 3-0.

The Griffons did have some bright spots on the team though, with Tahler Johnston leading the team with nine kills.
Senior Kelli Sicner was second on the team with eight kills. She also played well in the loss to Emporia State.

“I thought games one and three we played pretty well and used our team chemistry to our advantage,” Sicner said. “However, game two in the match, we let Emporia State take control of our side of the court, and we let things fall apart.”

Western played hard but the Hornets proved to be too strong for Missouri Western to overcome the obstacles.

The Griffon volleyball team watches as a spike goes over the net on Friday night against Washburn. Western lost the match 3-0. Photo | Jason Brown

Head Coach Cory Frederick said that there were many different problems in the game and fundamentals were to blame.

“We were focused on more of what the other team was doing to us, instead of focusing on what we could be doing to the other team, and somehow we have to balance between the two,” Frederick said.

He emphasized that the team would be working more on the fundamentals to get back to the form his team used to be. He said they have gotten away from those things.

This seemed to be true all night because there were times when Emporia got multiple kills in a row, and went on a strong run. Western struggled to bounce back from these runs and keep themselves in the game.

Coach Frederick said that the team needed to be more disciplined and it also affected the overall outcome of the match.

“When we made mistakes, Emporia took advantage of them,” Frederick said.

He felt the team’s lack of discipline allowed a good Emporia team to take the victory away in an easier fashion.  

Missouri Western has a tough road ahead of them, including big conference rival, Northwest Missouri State, who is still to come for the team.

Western versus Northwest is always a big rivalry game and the Griffons will need to be ready for them to come away with a win.

The 2-2 Griffons started off the weekend matching up against the Drury Panthers. Western won the first set 25-21, with 12 kills to help seal the win.

The second and third sets were a different story as Drury only allowed 18 combined kills in both sets and defeated the Griffons 25-14 and 25-18.Western came back with a vengeance as they won the fourth set with 14 kills, winning 25-19 and forcing a fifth set.

The story of the fifth set was a cat and mouse race to 15. Western got to a slow start falling behind immediately 4-0. The Griffons wouldn’t surrender, and fought back to gain a 9-8 lead. The tides turned when Drury won the side out and took control of the game winning 15-13.

At one point, the score was 13-9 and the Griffons only needed two points to end the game and win the match.

“This is the second time this season that this exact same thing has happened to us, and it was because of communication errors,” Sicner said.

Head Coach Cory Frederick saw panic in his players as they only needed the two more points, and knows his team needs to finish strong and play the way they know how to play.

“Finishing matches and games is a weak point for us right now and something that hopefully will get better in the near future,” Frederick said.

The match against Chadron State was much easier for the Griffons as they swept them 3-0. Westerns’ Sicner led the attack with 11 kills and was very consistent the whole tournament.

“I got a good amount of kills every game because I always kept switching up my hits and kept their defense on their toes by them never knowing where I’m going to hit the ball or if I’m going to tip,” Sicner said.

“When anyone gets kills I always get excited and I do think the team feeds off of it.”

There were 42 kills total in the three set sweep with an outstanding 16 kills in set one, and a .545 kill percentage in set two.

The third set didn’t come as easily as the first two sets as the Griffons only won 27-25. They pulled out the win and finished the day sitting at 1-1.

On Sept. 11 Western took on the Upper Iowa Peacocks and split the first four sets and alternated wins.

The fifth set was an exciting one as outside hitter Meghan Voelz and Sicner helped boost the Griffons to a 15-12 win against the Peacocks. Voelz had two big ace serves to put the Griffons ahead by two.

“We played really well together as a team,” Voelz said.

The first two sets were pretty close as Western lost 25-22, and won 25-22. Western lost all momentum as the third set was a 25-11 loss.

“We just kept piling on our mistakes. It was nothing special that Upper Iowa did,” Voelz said.

The Saturday in Rolla was going well for the Griffons as they put another notch under the win column. The next match-up was against the host school of the tournament, Missouri S&T.

This match wasn’t going to go the way the Griffons wanted it to. Missouri S&T swept the Griffons, winning 3-0.

“We let our mistakes beat us more than they beat us,” Voelz said.

The Rolla tournament allowed the volleyball team to learn from the mistakes that they did make during the match-ups and can use that to get better. Many positives came out of the tournament, despite the Griffons going 2-2.

Volleyball begins their season with some camp drills, such as setting and spiking the ball. Photo | Dave Hon

Western is coming off of three consecutive losing seasons and according to Frederick, the hardest part about changing that is changing the team’s mentality.

“I want to see a more consistent mentality from practice to games. We have the physical talent, we just need to improve our mental focus and we’ll see drastic improvements,” Frederick said.

Western finished last season a disappointing 11-22 under, then first year head coach, Cory Frederick. This season, the team is more mature and more experienced and are hoping to show the signs of an experienced team.

“We don’t need to dominate teams at times, we just need to stay close and give ourselves a chance to win in every match. If we do this and maintain a positive mentality, we’ll come out on top more often than not,” Frederick said.

Even with all the returning upperclassmen, the Griffons will have to be able to blend in new recruits as well as some players that saw playing time their freshman and sophomore seasons. Alex Behnke, Hannah Zimmerman and Britny Pearl are three of the main underclassmen that the team will be relying on to give them valuable playing time this season.

“I think our biggest strength this season is that many players were receiving court time during their freshman and sophomore seasons, so they can hopefully build on that experience to make our team better,” Frederick said.

Overall, the 2010 squad is ready to erase the memories of last season’s disappointing finish by having a team mindset that the season will be a winning one.

“Our biggest strengths this year will be our team chemistry and our mental focus to accomplish the same goal,” senior Meghan Voelz said.

Another thing that will help the team accomplish this goal is that with all the new recruits as well as young players, there will be a more competitive environment in practice.

“I expect our new players to bring some needed intensity and desire to the squad,” Frederick said.

The (8-10-2) Missouri Western Soccer head coach Jeff Hansen has added a Junior College transfer from Olathe, Kan. to the roster for the 2010 fall season in hopes of improving his soccer team.

Coach Hansen found goalkeeper Kelly Voigts at Johnson County Community College, where she was goalie of the national tournament in which her team placed second. Voigts also set a national junior college record with 18 shutouts last season alone.

Hansen has faith that his newly signed player will be fighting for a solid spot at goalkeeper on the field and is excited for what Voigt has to offer.

“She’ll compete for the job,” Hansen said. “It’s always an open competition.”

This year wasn’t as heavy a recruiting year as most, due to the amount of returning players from last season. 20 of the players from last season are still representing the Griffons in the fall. Yet the 2011 season will be a different story – nine players will be graduating in the 2011 class, leaving open slots for Hansen to fill.

Hansen is pleased with what will be added to his team, but already has respect for how his players click and play as a team.

“We’re being picky, because our team chemistry is pretty good,” Hansen said. “We’re not just going to bring in anybody that’s going to screw that up.”

Volleyball

The Missouri Western Volleyball program has signed players Stephanie Hattey from Kearney, Mo. and Tahler Johnston from Marshalltown, IA for the 2010 season.

Hattey is expected to come in and contribute right away as a 5’8” freshman setter. Western head coach Cory Frederick added Hattey to the team due to her athleticism and quickness she could add to the Griffon squad.

“She’s going to be a very strong player, we’re happy to have her,” Frederick said.

Also being added to the team is Johnston, who transferred to Western from Indian Hills Community College as an outside hitter.

“She brings a lot to our team; she’s got a little bit more size and a nice solid arm swing,” Frederick said.

Johnston brings to the table a 5’10” to 5’11” frame which adds height to the blocks. There are three solid outside hitters fighting for a starting position on the Western team.

One of the things that the Western volleyball team is looking to improve on is team chemistry, and the addition to these new players could help with that goal.

“More than anything these recruits that we bring in and the players that are returning will bring us more team chemistry, which is one of the things that we are preaching right now and trying to get that better,” Frederick said.

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.

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.

The Griffons would rack up 82 kills, 23 of them coming from Meghan Voles. Kelli Sicner had 18 kills as well. Britny Pearl had 24 digs and 1 kill. Most of these numbers are at least double what the Griffon Volleyball team got against their last opponent, Missouri Southern on October 31st.

Missouri Western played well: managing to take one game from the nationally ranked Bulldogs. The achilles heel of the Griffons has been that they play a great initial game, losing by a very slim margin, and then get blown out in the following game. Fortunately, it would appear that the Griffons are fixing this problem.

Western beat Northwest Missouri State 3-2 on Wednesday, and then Saturday they played a solid game against a tough Truman squad, giving the team a badly needed boost.

“It was nice to see the team lose a game they should have won (at Northwest), but rather than get discouraged, continue to play and win the match,” head coach Cory Frederick said. “They didn’t roll over for us, we won – and I think it helps for the team to know that.”

The Griffons have also made strides to fix the simple mistakes that cause them to give up easy points. They are also creating and earning points rather than waiting for the opposing team to make mistakes.

“We have a healthy balance; we’re creating more kills now than we have all season, and it’s led to better passing,” Frederick said. “If we continue to play this way, I think the team will be very happy with the results.”

Coach Frederick is happy with how the team has been playing lately.

“The team has turned over a couple of new leaves this week,” Frederick said. “Truman was obviously a very tough match for us, but we played very well. If we continue to play the same way we did at Truman, we’re going to find more wins later this season. So far we haven’t competed well with nationally ranked teams, but we definitely changed that against Truman.”

Outside Hitter Kelli Sicner agreed.

“Truman is a strong and consistent team,” Sicner said. “The games were close, and we took the second game from them. We played well, but Truman was consistent and their defense is great. We played well against a good team.”

The stat board was well balanced for the Griffons against Truman. Leading Western with 13 kills was Meghan Voelz, followed closely by Kelli Sicner with 10. Madison Benton had 40 set assists and 16 digs, along with Britny Pearl, who had 16 digs. Britny Pearl has also given life to the Griffons on the court in another way.

“We don’t have anyone who’s a leader type, but Britny Pearl has had great games and great practices this week,” Frederick said. “We all try to cheer each other on, so when one of us works hard, we all work hard.”

Missouri Western’s record after Truman comes to 8-15 overall and 1-9 in MIAA conference play, while the Bulldogs improved to 18-8 and 6-4 in the MIAA. Western’s next game will be played at home on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:00 p.m. The game is against last year’s MIAA champions: the 8th ranked Emporia State Hornets.

The Griffons went down early in the first game 0-5, but managed to make a great run to battle back to 9-6. Unfortunately, Central Missouri showed why they are ranked 4th in the nation; they did not become discouraged and continued to play at a consistently high level.

Eventually, the Griffons became overwhelmed and only scored three more points during the first game, making the score 12-25. The second game was much closer than the first, with the Griffons playing on par physically with Central Missouri. Finally, the last game was oddly reminiscent of the first with the Griffons playing hard and trying, but the Jennies were just too much for the squad. The third game’s final score was 13-25.

While the score doesn’t show it, the Griffons played a good and solid game against Central Missouri with a few too many mistakes.

“We played really well Saturday; coach said it was our best game for the week,” outside hitter Kelli Sicner said. “We need to focus more though. That’s our biggest problem.”

Junior outside hitter Meghan Voelz agreed.

“We played a lot better than normal,” Voelz said. “We played to our competition. Although I think if we can fix how we play when we’re down, we could be a lot better.”

The Griffons biggest problem this year is the mental mistakes they make on the floor that gives other teams free points, according to head coach Cory Frederick. Unfortunately, they played Central Missouri, a team that makes very few mistakes at all.

“The match against Central Missouri was a difficult match,” Frederick said. “They are a solid team that does not make mistakes. In the first game, we had scored only 12 points and out of those almost 90 percent we had to score ourselves. Central just doesn’t make any mistakes. We just made too many mistakes without question.”

The Griffons mental mistakes or lapses have taken their toll on the team this season. Frederick had implemented ‘focus’ drills into practice to try and fix the problem.

“I think our biggest problem right now is making mistakes on the offensive side of the ball,” Frederick said. “We hit a season low -.018 against Central Missouri and there is no excuse for that. We have to eliminate those mistakes, and it seems to be more mental than physical. Outside of volleyball I have instituted some drills that don’t have to do with volleyball so that they understand what we have to deal with, but it’s a hard thing to address and hopefully it will translate into fewer mistakes.”

The stat leaders for the night were Hannah Zimmerman with seven kills and Kelli Sicner with six kills. Madison Benton marked 22 assists and Meghan Voelz had two service aces.

The Griffon’s next two home games will be Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24, both beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The Griffons opened strong with wins in the first two sets, led by Allison Smith and Hannah Zimmerman with six kills a piece, but they were unable to keep the same level of play heading in the final three games.

Head coach Cory Frederick attributes this recent style of play to their mentality and the fact that they are on a losing streak.

Photo | Marty Ayers

The Griffons have, in fact, developed a pattern of playing very well in their opening games, then essentially falling apart when it counts the most.

“We come out really strong,” Meghan Voelz said. “Our weakness is that we play weak the rest of the game. Team morale is a little down, but we’ll come through.”

The Griffons’ focus is on staying positive and working toward a more cohesive performance in the games to come.

“We see each opponent as a new challenge; a new obstacle,” Zimmerman said. “We need to make sure that everyone has their heads in the game and play well together.”

The Griffons hope that if they can pinpoint their weaknesses and work to make them better, the outcome will be different.

“Our weakness is blocking, which we should be able to fix. Our defense was there, but we just need to clean up our offense. [If we] clean up our passing, our offense should be there.”

The Griffons had 53 kills and 46 digs; Kelli Sicner had 15 kills and 10 digs, and Zimmerman had 14 kills. Lauren Burbach contributed 10 digs, and also achieved a career high 47 set assists.

Missouri Western has their next game in Kansas City on Tuesday, Oct. 6 against Rockhurst University.

The Griffons opened up strong with two consecutive set wins, seeming at ease during the first half of the game. When they returned to the court, the level of play was markedly different. The Griffons repeatedly made simple mistakes, which eventually led to crushing defeat in the fifth and final set.

“Most of our development is mental,” head coach Cory Frederick said. “They can physically play with teams, but they have to learn to take matches at the end. These are matches we should easily win.”

“We play the worst when we’re winning,” Frederick said. “It just seems to me they don’t have that killer instinct to win a match. They are better than other teams, but as soon as we get up on another team, they just can’t seem to close it out, and that is what we have to work on.”

Junior outside hitter Kelli Sicner led the Griffons with a career high 21 kills and nine digs against the Tigers, while senior middle blocker Allison Smith finished with another career high of 12 kills. Senior setter Madison Benton finished with 46 assists and 10 digs.

The home opener, while a tough loss, also gave the volleyball team a reason to feel good. According to sophomore middle blocker Alex Behnke, finally being able to play at home was great for the team.

“It feels good to play at home,” Behnke said. “It stinks that we lost, but the crowd supported us.”
Support, the fans did. The tension was almost palpable during the final sets, and you could feel the pain after the loss.

Benton echoed this.

“The match was fun,” Benton said. “It was awesome having so many fans here, but we should have made it even better with a win.”

Missouri Western also lost two more games on Friday and Saturday of last week to third ranked Emporia State 3-1 and sixth ranked Washburn 3-0.

Photo | Mathew Fowler

While only winning one game, the outlook for the team isn’t bleak, but actually quite good. The Griffons played two teams who were ranked in the top 25 of the preseason poll, and managed to take games from both teams (one of which went 4-0) and keeping the other games relatively close.

When asked about team chemistry and what their major problems were, head coach Cory Frederick was very positive.

“Team chemistry is a lot better than past years,” Frederick said. “They are working well together as a team and are getting along, which is good to see. There are a few systematic approaches that we need to clean up, but those should go away with a little court time to know where each other on the court. The players are willing to support one another; we just need to get a little bit better with our volleyball positioning on the court.”

The Griffons moved into a 5-1 volleyball formation this year (five attackers, one setter), which is the most common formation in high-level play.

“The 5-1 formation allows more movement and really spreads the block out on the sides,” Frederick said. “It also give us more consistency.”

“The tournament was very up and down,” Frederick said. “It could have been better. At moments we played very well, and other moments we just struggled and made strings of mistakes. There are many bright spots we can work on as the season progresses; we just have to learn to be more consistent,”

So while the Lady Griffons are not perfect this year, they are better. Their play lies solely on the time it takes for them to acclimate to their new strategy, and new coaching. It will be a growing year in more ways than one.

“It will be a good season for everyone to come and watch this year,” senior middle blocker Allison Smith said. “People don’t expect us to be as good as we are this year.”
The first Griffon home game is Sept. 16 against the Fort Hays State Tigers.

The MIAA conference is loaded with talented and experienced teams. The conference bolsters four teams in the top 25. The Griffons will welcome two of those teams to St. Joseph for home contests. Head coach Tiffani Mastin knows the conference is stacked with quality teams.

“The conference was strong last year and it has only gotten better this season,” Mastin said. “Everyone is going to beat up on each other.”

The Griffons will first welcome the Emporia State University Hornets on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. ESU is ranked 14th in the nation and have an impressive 10-1 record. The Griffons will also celebrate their younger fans with Youth Night. The Hornets are led by junior Arica Shepard, she has 133 kills on the young season.

They will then turn right around and face the Washburn Lady Blues at 2 p.m. on Sept. 20, who are a perfect 11-0 on the season and ranked third in the nation. The Lady Blues are led by senior Monica Miesner and freshman Mollie Lacy, who have 118 and 79 kills respectively. Coach Mastin knows the Griffons will have to play at a high level to have success in the upcoming games.

“We need to play consistent and have a couple girls step up and become playmakers for us,” Mastin said.
The Griffons are coming off a successful road trip, as they went 2-2 at the Tarleton State University Tournament. They fell to Midwestern State University and Tarleton State University, 3-0 in both contests. They managed to beat Central Oklahoma and Texas Women’s University, in dramatic fashion, winning 3-2 in both contests.  Sophomore Kelli Sicner knows it was huge for the Griffons to play well heading into conference play.

“We needed to get some wins before conference play, those victories really helped boost our confidence,” Sicner said.

The Griffons are young, but are getting key play from those young players.  The Griffons are lead in kills by Sophomore Meghan Voelz, as she has 112. They are lead in assists by freshman Lindsay Rosenhagen, as she has 22. They have also gotten big play from Sicner, freshman Alexandra Behnke and many more underclassmen.

“We are consistently playing underclassmen and are starting to get over the hump,” Mastin said.
The Griffons have been led mainly by underclassmen. Sophomore Meghan Voelz, who currently leads the team with 112 kills. Sicner is second on the team with 88 kills. Junior Madison Benton is first on the team with 179 assists. The team of mainly underclassmen are looking to prove people wrong and have success in the MIAA.

The Griffons are currently tied for last in the conference in wins with three, but are only two wins away from being in the middle of the pack. They are currently the youngest team in the MIAA.
The Griffons will have all their home games at Looney Complex on the Missouri Western campus. The Griffons also have one more tournament left this season, as they will compete in the Washburn Regional Crossover Tournament.

With her young team playing well, Coach Mastin found many positives in a Wednesday night loss to the No. 6 ranked Truman State Bulldogs.
The Griffons (9-18 overall) lost three straight games to Truman (25-4 overall), but managed to keep all three close.  Games one and two ended 30-23 in favor of Truman, and the third game finished 30-21. 

However, Coach Tiffany Mastin really felt like she saw improvements in her young team.
“Better, a lot better at times.  I thought we played great at times,” Coach Mastin said.
In particular, freshman Megan Voelz really stepped up for the Griffs.   She played one of her best games of the year, according to Coach Mastin.   Voelz had an impressive eight kills, seven digs, and one block.  She stayed aggressive all night long, and didn’t look at all like a freshman.

“Megan Voelz played the best game she’s played all year long as a freshman,” Mastin said.  “She’s decided she’s gonna step up, and she seems a little more relaxed with her game.”
Junior Hallie Delagardelle was another key player who has the Griffons feeling like they are improving.  She led the team with 13 kills.  Afterwards Delagardelle said that all the credit should go to her “great” setter, Madison Benton.
Sophomore Madison Benton played a critical role for MWSU, setting up her teammates 31 times, compared to the team total of 38.
 “I just really concentrated on staying on my toes and being ready to move,” Benton said.
Benton’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed by Coach Mastin either.  She played almost every minute of all three games.
“ She’s our fastest athlete, and for as small as she is, she, like Megan Voelz, can jump out of the gym,” Mastin said.  “We don’t lose much when she’s in the front row fortunately.”
Overall, Missouri Western looked at this game as a sign that they are improving.  They had a few mental break downs and unforced errors, but for the majority of the three games they stayed aggressive and quick.  According to Coach Mastin, they sped up their offense and had some young players start to come into their own.
Despite Western’s best efforts, Truman was just too much in the end.  The Bulldogs were much more consistent committing seven fewer errors than Missouri Western.   Truman was led in kills by Eli Medina  who had 14 on the night.
 “They pick up balls that frustrate you.  Because it will be an awesome kill, but they still pick it up,” Benton said.  “It can frustrate you and get everybody down.”
The Griffons have struggled so far this year. They will look to build on this year and have the success roll over into next year.
The Griffons have three games left for this season. They have to travel to Central Missouri, then they have their last home game against  Souhwest Baptist and they finally wrap up the season by traveling to rival Northwest Missouri State.

Alyssa Berg, a senior at Western, recently became  the 13th Griffon in 32 years of Missouri Western volleyball to record 1,000 career kills.

She has become a leader for the Griffon volleyball team both on and off the court.

“It was really exciting for me, but it is just something that kind of happened along the way,” Berg said. “I just wanted to win volleyball games.” 

Coach Mastin and Alyssa’s teammates describe her as a leader by example. She has been named to the all-tournament team in three of the four tournaments the Griffons have played in this year. She also leads the team in kills, with over 1,050 now and blocked shots with 22, but Alyssa is more than just a statistical leader.

The team calls her “Grandma Griff.”  As the lone senior on the squad, she’s a leader through her wise old ways.  Berg’s teammate and friend Hallie Delagardelle joked about the number of aches and pains the “old” Grandma Griff has sustained through the years.

Berg has suffered through a torn meniscus, a medical red-shirt year (due to off season surgery), shin-splints, sore ankles and many other bumps and bruises.

In spite of all of her ailments, she has worked hard to become the veteran, lead-by-example Grandma that other, younger, girls can look up to.

“I know a lot of the freshmen look up to her,” Delagardelle said. “I even look up to her even though she’s only one year older than me.”

Alyssa is a leader off the court as well, where she has been named to the academic honor roll for volleyball multiple times.  She is a senior exercise science major, and she has maintained an impressive 3.5 cumulative GPA.

 “I was so happy for her when she got her 1,000th kill because she was just so deserving; because she works so hard,” Delagardelle said.

Coach Mastin, who inherited Berg when she took over the team, is impressed with her as well.  In describing Alyssa she referred to her as a “yes mam” type of person who is willing to work hard, and do whatever is asked.

Alyssa worked extra hard in preparation for her senior year this past off season at a place called “Going Vertical” near her home in Nebraska. She spent the summer working out and doing plyo-metrics. By the time school rolled around Alyssa had increased her vertical by an entire inch.

“She’s touching ten feet now, which is really good at this level,” Mastin said. “You can tell a difference between spring and now.”
With graduation coming up in December for Alyssa, her teammates will surely miss her athletic kills and intimidating blocks, but more importantly, they will miss her loyalty and leadership.

She has quietly become more than just the little-old-lady next door. Loved by her coaches and teammates alike, Missouri Western volleyball will not be the same without Alyssa.

Pitt State was ranked No. 11 in the nation and Missouri Western had been struggling all year.

In the first game, Western jumped out to an early 6-2 lead. There were several lead changes early on until the Gorillas took control at the end of the game and won, 30-25.

The second game was close for the first few points, and despite a service ace followed by a murderous kill to make the score 5-4, the Gorillas once again overtook the Griffons 30-20.

The Griffons had their backs against the wall heading into the third game. They jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead. However, the poise and composure from the 11th ranked team in the nation brought them back to tie the game at 17.

There were a few lead changes until the Gorillas eventually took the third game 30-25 and won the match.

Kills artist, senior Alyssa Berg, who had a team high 12 kills, believes the team is getting better just not at a fast enough pace.
“We’re improving slowly but not fast enough,” Berg said. “We want to win.”

The team’s play has good spurts, but inconsistency has been a constant issue this season for the Griffons. Junior Hallie Delagardelle thought that was one of the problems in the loss on Friday night.

“I thought we played great at times, but we need to take those times and be more consistent,” Delagardelle said.

As for jumping out to early leads, Berg thinks a lack of focus as the game goes on could contribute to giving up those leads.
“We’re gonna get leads, but then we just need to have the extra focus to keep them (the opponent) from coming back,” Berg said.

Head coach Tiffany Mastin thought the team played well, but could have done better as the games reached the later points.
“I think we should have played with a little bit more intensity,” Mastin said, “I think we did a lot of great things, but I think we got to about 24 in every game, and just thought that was good enough.”

Mastin was happy to see her team get out to unfamiliar early leads, but thought they could have finished stronger.
“We’re usually down early in games, but I think we’ve gotta finish games more,” Mastin said.

With only five games left, the Griffons want to try to continue to get better, and end the season on a positive note  for next season.

The loss on Friday night dropped the Griffons record to 9-17 overall and 1-7 in the MIAA.

 Missouri Western Senior volleyball player Alyssa Berg becomes the 13^th player in the history of the school to achieve 1,000 career kills.

Berg achieved the 1,000th kill against Fort Hays State in Hays, Kansas away from home. She is the first Missouri Western volleyball player to achieve a 1,000 kills since 2002. She has 305 kills on the year and is leading the team in this category.

The Griffons fell in game one 30-23, they won game two 30-25 and lost the last two by the score of 30-24 in both.

Head coach Tiffany Mastin believes game two is how the team should play all the time.
“We played confident and patient in game two,” Mastin said.

One of the big things that plagued the Griffons were unforced errors. They had 30 errors in the game. senior Alyssa Berg, who is closing in on a 1,000 kills for her career, believes that hurt the Griffons’ chances of winning.

“Unforced errors: if we cut down on those we will be okay,” Berg said.

The Griffons showed good restraint against the No. 23 team in the nation. Sophomore Emiley DeVore believes overall the team had trouble putting the Hornets away in games.

“We had our ups and downs, but we just didn’t finish games,” DeVore said.

The Griffons got off to a fast start in game one, jumping out to an early 10-4 lead. The Griffons struggled late as the Hornets closed the game out with a 17-4 run.

The Hornets looked vulnerable at times. Coach Mastin believes the Griffons didn’t take advantage of the opportunities the Hornets were giving them.

“They gave us opportunities to score points, we just didn’t take advantage of all of them,” Mastin said.

Game two is where the Griffons looked the strongest. The Griffons trailed 23-20 before ending with a 10-3 run to capture the victory.

The Griffons are still trying to find an identity. As a young team they struggle in some areas, but exceed in others.

“We do a lot of great things, but we do a lot of little things not so great,” Mastin said.

Before the game, the Griffon players honored their mothers for Family Day here on campus.

The Griffons begin a road trip next week. Their next home game will not be until Oct. 12 against the Pitt State Gorillas.

After hanging with the Jennies (17-1, 4-0 MIAA) for most of the first game, Western (6-10, 0-2 MIAA) seemed to lose their aggressiveness and UCM attacked freely, opening up a 15 point lead before the Griffons could break their serve again. The Jennies held Western to a microscopic .033 hit percentage. Coach Tiffany Mastin cited lack of focus as the main culprit.
 
“We looked at who was across the court from us,” Mastin said. “We looked across and saw the number five team in the country instead of just playing our game.”

Even with being down by two games in the set, the Griffons rallied to keep the final game close. Sophomore Audra Ridolfi led the team with six kills in the game before the Jennies were able to shut the door on the rally. 

“We came out at point ten and put them out of their game plan,” Mastin said. “[We] pushed them to make mistakes by swinging hard and put points where we needed to and made them make errors instead of us standing bewildered as far as to what happened. We have sparks of being a great team when we pull it together.”

The Griffons have faced a murder’s row of teams in the past week including losses at conference rival Truman State and St. Mary’s.  Berg, the lone Griffons’ senior, alluded to the team’s overall goals to get past these losses. 

“We focus by focusing on our own goals and our team goal,” Berg said. “It is about focusing on the same goal and pursuing the team goals to the end.”

Ridolfi, who is stepping up as a leader to the young squad, added her insight to the teams mental state after these defeats.

“We’ve talked and we know one thing,” Ridolfi said. “We know it’s not if we are going to be a good team, but when we are going to be a good team. I know we have to be motivated and we can’t do that on our own. I know I have to step up and be an acting senior rather than a sophomore.”

The Griffons continue their home conference schedule this week when they host Northwest Missouri State, Missouri Southern and Emporia State. The Saturday night game against Emporia is also their breast cancer awareness night where they will be accepting donations for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer foundation.

New coach Tiffani Mastin will take over for interim coach Kyprian Harasymowycz. Last year the volleyball team posted a record of 16-15. Mastin hopes they can improve on that record.

“The biggest goal this season is to win 20 games and make the regional tournament,” Mastin said.

The team also returns many key players from last year’s team. Those players include Hallie Delagardelle, Audra Ridolfi, Shari Tompkins, Emiley DeVore and lone senior Alyssa Berg. Assistant coach Diana Zipp believes Alyssa does a great job helping out the younger players on the team. “Alyssa is a great leader and a great role model for our younger kids,” Zipp said.

To go along with the experienced players, Mastin brought in a solid recruiting class. The key new players to the team are Megan Voelz, Lauren Burbach and Megan Mosser. The mix of newcomers with the returning players has made for some inspiring competition. “The newcomers have been pushing the returners and the returners have been pushing the newcomers to play a high level of volleyball,” Mastin said.

The team was picked to finish eighth in the preseason MIAA coach’s poll. The team will look to gain respect this year and use that to build on for the future. The biggest challenge facing the team this year will be adjusting to a new coaching staff. Mastin thinks that there was an adjustment period, but now that they have accepted the coaching philosophy everything will be fine.

“It has been a process, but the team has adjusted to the change well,” Mastin said.

The volleyball team with the new coaching staff will be looking for big things this season. With the core players they have coming back this season could be a special one for the Missouri Western volleyball team.

Tiffany Mastin has been named the new head volleyball coach at Missouri Western.

Mastin takes over for interim head coach Kyp Harasymowcyz.

Harasymowcyz replaced Cindy Brauk who retired in May of 2006. Tradition played a big role in Mastin wanting the job at Missouri Western.

“Missouri Western has a great tradition of athletics,” Mastin said. “I also see this as a place to improve a program.”

For the last two years Mastin has been the head coach at Oakland City University. Mastin’s love for the game of volleyball is something that made an impression on athletic director Mark Linder.

“Her passion for volleyball made her stick out from other candidates,” Linder said. “She also came from a successful program that she turned around.”

Mastin also made a good impression on the volleyball players. Her knowledge for the game of volleyball is something that impressed freshman Jill Briant.

“She has a different outlook on the game of volleyball and the coaching philosophy she is more up to date with current times,” Briant said.

Mastin also is a hard worker something that rubs off on her players. Junior Alyssa Berg finds that to be one of Matins best qualities.

“She is someone you want to work hard for because she will work hard for you,” Berg said.

Mastin has many short term and long term goals for the volleyball program.

Short term she would like to improve from last years record and also would like to compete for a conference championship.

Long term, she would love to make Missouri Western a division II volleyball powerhouse and have the team ranked in the top 25 every years.

Kyp Harasymowycz took over as head coach this year after serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator last year. Harasymowycz learned he was going to manage the team while coach Brauck took extended sick leave after returning from his honeymoon last November. He was given the job in May after Brauck retired.

Harasymowycz knew he had taken on a position that involves a lot of work. He also had some changes in mind for the program.

“At first I was a little overwhelmed,” said Harasymowcyz. “I’m glad the administration has let me run the program differently than it has been run in the past.”

He has also had to change how he handles the players on the team. Last year he spent a lot of time listening to the player’s frustrations and dealing with some emotional issues. Now he has to make all the tough decisions for the entire team.

“A lot of the girls used me as the emotional sounding board last year,” said Harasymowcyz. “It’s no longer a you-and-me personal conversation.”

The building of a solid program never stops. Recruiting players that fit into the program is one of the keys to success. Harasymowcyz wants players who have the desire to play, are athletic, and can learn the collegiate level of volleyball quickly.

“I want recruits to get here and meet the girls,” said Harasymowcyz. “The school and the program really sell themselves.”

Harasymowcyz likes to focus on ball control during practice. He wants to improve the team’s defense that he feels hurt them last year. The hard work has paid off as the Griffons aren’t allowing as many aces as they did a year ago. He wants the team to be aggressive and play with a lot of energy.

Practices are intense with little down time. Harasymowcyz avoids talking too much during practice. He would prefer his players learn to figure things out on their own.

“The kids could care less about what you say,” said Harasymowcyz. “All they want to do is win, not listen to the coach run his mouth.”

Many of the players who have made contributions this year are recruits that Harasymowcyz brought in. He has been impressed with some of the freshmen who have been able to step in and play well. Getting such an early return is a rare thing at this level.

While Harasymowcyz is happy with the progress of the team, he isn’t satisfied. He won’t be truly satisfied until he wins a national championship. He thinks that bringing in solid recruiting classes is the key to reaching that goal.

“Hopefully I will be as lucky as I was this year,” said Harasymowcyz. “If I am we may have a few more NCAA banners to go in the arena.”

If you look at the Griffons’ schedule, you will see a streak of wins followed by a streak of losses. A season that started with six straight victories is now an 11-9 record. The mediocre season isn’t due to a lack of talent; it’s due to inconsistency.

“We play up and down,” Alyssa Berg, Junior, said. “Our team hasn’t met our expectations yet. We need to improve our consistency and everybody needs to play to their potential every night to win.”

Berg knows what it’s like to be on the sideline. She had to sit out because of injuries her first couple years at Missouri Western. This memory pushes her to play as hard as possible every night. Her positive attitude pulled her through her struggling time.

“It feels great to play,” Berg said. “I play harder than I ever did before, because now I know how it feels to sit out. I want to be on the court more than anything. I try my hardest at all times.”

Berg has plenty experience on the court, playing last year and this year.

Many changes were made to the volleyball team this year including a new head coach. Kyprian Harasymowycz took over as head coach this season and brought a new style.

“There is a big difference in the coaching style,” Berg said. “It’s completely opposite from last year.”

Along with a new coach, there are also new players that are getting used to college volleyball.

Madison Benton is a red shirted freshman and one of those new faces on the court. She brings her energy and hard work to the team.

“You don’t have time to stop working hard because other teams will pass you by,” Benton said.

This hard work is helping Benton adapt to college ball.

“The speed of the game is a lot faster than in high school. The girls hit a lot harder.” Benton’s recipe for success is hard work off the court and excitement on the court.

“I bring energy to our team,” Benton said. “I try to stay excited because I play better that way.”

Every player brings something different to the team, which helps bring the team together.

“We are playing together and working hard as a team,” Benton said.

The Griffons will need this togetherness as they go on a streak of road games. They have only two home games left and the next one will be Oct. 20, at 7:00 p.m., in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The Griffons record now stands at 11-8, and 3-4 in the MIAA Eastern Division. They are third in the Eastern Division, but need to make up for lost time if they plan to catch either Central Missouri or Truman State. There are seven conference games left so this will be a hard task to overcome.

As it stands now Central Missouri and Truman have a strangle hold on the rest of the league. Truman are 6-0 in the conference while Central is 5-1. The only team Central lost to was Truman so the Griffons will have their hands full trying to reach these two teams before the end of the season.

They play four more ranked teams in their conference this season, and in order to have a shot at making the playoffs they will need to win at least two out of the four.

Marian Broderick, a grad assistant for the women’s volleyball team, wants a victory.

“We need to beat Southern Missouri and probably another ranked team within the conference,” Broderick said.

The Griffons first game of last week was played against Fort Hays State. The Griffons handled Fort Hays easily in three games 30-18, 30-25 and 30-17. Around a hundred fans showed for the match and got to see the Griffons run on all cylinders.

The Griffons overwhelmed Fort Hays with play by Alyssa Berg, Melissa Malone and Hallie Delagadelle who all had nine kills and Jill Bryant, who had 20 assists with Madison Benton adding another 18 to the total.

Though Washburn was ranked number nine in the country, the Griffons played hard and almost pulled out an upset over the Lady Blues. The Lady Griffs ended up losing but many members of the team played exceptionally well.

The Griffons had three players with 20 kills or more. Alyssa Berg led the team with 23, Ashley Blickenstaff had 22 and Melissa Malone got 20. Shari Tompkins had 40 digs along with Malone’s 31.

“We have another chance to play them at the end of the season,” Broderick said. “I think it just shows that we can compete against them and win.”

The great effort by these girls almost led to an upset of a highly ranked team. The next step is doing it.

Soccer Falls in MIAA
The Western women had a grueling weekend facing off against Emporia State on Sept. 23, and No. 9 ranked Wasburn University on Sept. 24.

The Griffs went on the road to Emporia, Kansas where the Hornets defeated the women lost 3-1. The very next day the women showed up in Topeka, Kan. to face off against the The Lady Blues. Wasbburn came out on top with a 4-0 shut out. The Lady Blues are now 10-0-1 and 5-0- 0 in the MIAA.

The Griffons now stand at a 1-6-2 season record, and 0-4-0 in MIAA play. Western will have its next chance to find victory on the road in Warrensburg, Mo., on Sept. 29.

Volleyball’s ups & downs
The Griffons visited familar territory when they went on the road to Emporia State last Saturday.

Western was able to walk away with a winning score of 3-2 against the The Lady Blues, something the team has not been able to pull off in three seasons.

Last Friday, however, was a different story for the Griffs when they faced No. 4 ranked Truman State University. Truman stated dominance over the Griffons on their own court in a three game sweep. Western is now 9-7 overall, and 1-3 in the MIAA.

No matter the ups and downs for the women, they are preparing for another battle. This time the team’s target is Fort Hayes State. The game is scheduled to be held at the MWSU Fieldhouse on Sept. 29.

Men’s golf enters MIAA
The Griffon golf team wrapped up the Silo Ridge Golf Tournament on Sept. 18-19, with the No. 5 slot.

The Silo Ridge event marked the first MIAA conference tournament for the Griffon men.

Junior Aaron Lisenbee ended the tournament with the No. 4 individual seat. Lisenbee shot 148 total for the two day tournament and the led the Griffs to the No. 5 spot. Senior Daniel Cordray was not far behind his teammate with a total score of 152, while junior Craig Lytle and freshman Shane Feist both shot a 157.

The Griffs now have a No. 4 and No.5 finishing record.

Shari Tompkins is a 5-foot-9 inch, graduate from West Liberty High School in West Liberty, Iowa. During her high school volleyball career, Tompkins played outside hitter/ds for the left sides. When she came to Western she was moved to the libero position which plays middle back.

“I am working hard and trying to relearn everything I know just placing it at a new and exciting position,” Tompkins said.

Since the season began at the end of August, Tompkins is already making her mark at Western averaging almost five digs a game, totaling 226. Tompkins also recorded 33 digs in a match against Montevallo, in a four game win for the Griffons. Tompkins defended more than eight attacks per game in that match.

Western volleyball Head Coach Kyp Harasymowycz said that an average defender usually digs three to four per 30-point game. Tompkins’ achievement will be sent to the American Volleyball Association Awards committee for post-season honors.

“Her efforts will definitely be rewarded when the time comes,” Harasymowycz said. “I just hope that she can keep up that pace. She’s the only non-senior in the conference (MIAA) in the top five, averaging over five digs per game.”

Tompkins said she understands that this is a big feat but knows there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“I will always work to try and improve,” Tompkins said. “I am honored to have met an accomplishment such as this one, but I just put that in the past and focus on what I need to do for the next match. I never look back unless it is something that I know I need to change and ask coach for help.”

Even coaches can’t seem to believe Tompkins is this highly developed for a freshman.

“It’s hard to tell from just watching her that she’s only a freshman,” Harasymowycz said. “Her anticipation and knowledge of the game is more advanced than what we’ve had in the past defensively. Many coaches have already approached me about her performance looking more mature than how a true freshman might act in a similar capacity.”

Tompkins not only has to deal with the everyday struggles of being a student athlete, she also has to keep a close eye on her health. Seven years ago she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, meaning it will be present her whole life.

Tompkins says that volleyball can take a lot of endurance but she keeps on top of her condition the best that she can.

“I always try to make sure that I am healthy for the matches,” Tompkins said. “Having diabetes has affected me in multiple ways but I try not to let it bother me. I always tell myself that there are worse things out there than having diabetes so I simply just look past it.”

Harasymowycz agrees with Tompkins about her health awareness.

“She’s very conscious about her health and has already talked with the girls on the team just in case something were to happen,” Harasymowycz said.

The team keeps extra Gatorade and fruit on the bench for her for precautionary reasons in case she feels like her glucose is dropping.

“Sometimes I get so into the game that I forget or brush off the fact that I need something but most of the time I stay on top of it,” Tompkins said.

Tompkins said she knows what her priorities are and that she needs to take care of herself to be able to succeed in school and in volleyball.

“I love the Missouri Western and the volleyball program,” Tompkins said. “I enjoy going to classes and working out with the team afterwards.”

The two opposing teams matched up against each other at the MWSU Fieldhouse at 2 p.m., for a grueling five-match standoff.

The Southwest Bearcats defeated Western 26-30, 30-27, 26-30 and 15-8 in the final match.

The Griffons fall to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Association. The Bearcats moved to 5-12 overall.

In the Griffon volleyball career the team has only lost three times to the SW Bearcats.

The five matches consisted of each team firing off serve after serve, spikes, blocks and digs. The two teams battled their way through the matches, but in the end the Griffs couldn’t stop the revved up Bearcats.

Western hit a .189 compared to the Bearcats .181 hitting average.

Senior Ashley Blickenstaff did her part by collecting 10 kills, or spikes. Blickenstaff believes that the team needs to come together in order to win the next couple of conference games.

“There’s times when our team blends well together and the next second we don’t, “Blickenstaff said. “It’s just so hot and cold.”

Blickenstaff was not the only one on the defense. Senior Melissa Malone pulled in a Western season high record of 22 kills, while sophomore Hallie Delagardelle got 12 kills.

Although head coach Kyp Harasymowycz was disappointed that the women could not come up with the win, he is putting his best foot forward and looks at what to improve upon for the next game.

“It’s a loss, and you have to take that in stride,” Harasymowycz said. “No matter how bitter the losses are or how grand the wins are, if you don’t take it in stride or the kids won’t follow you.”

Harasymowycz feels the team needs to work on its blocking and the team needs to be a little bit more aggressive. He feels that the Griffs have been serving and receiving as well as digging the ball up.

Whatever the Griffon women must work on, they are going to have to work fast because their next scheduled game is Sept. 20 against Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo.

The votes are in and the Western women were ranked at No. 7 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Preseason Coaches Poll. The Lady Griffons finished with a record of 17-15 record overall and a 7-9 record with the MIAA placing them at the No. 7 slot.

They will mark the beginning of the much anticipated season by traveling to Memphis, Tenn., in order to participate in the Christian Brothers Tournament on Aug. 25-26.

Leading the way is freshly named head coach Kyprian “Kyp” Harasymowycz. Former head coach Cindy Brauck stepped down from her position due to illness in May of 2006, which as a result, moved Harasymowycz from assistant to head coach. He took on the position
knowing that he would have to fill some pretty big shoes, and now shines new hope into the eyes of all the girls on the team.

“For the goals that we’ve set- we would like to finish third in the conference [with] 20 wins and make the NCAA,” Harasymowycz said. “If we do the things that we’re suppose to than we should be able to reach our goals.”

Harasymowycz boldly takes his strides as the new coach by modifying the traditional 5-1 formation the Griffons are familiar with to a 6-2 formation, which consists of two setters instead of one.

“Running a 6-2 makes us a little bit taller and a little bit more athletic than we were last fall,” Harasymowycz said. “To come out of the blocks right away and be ready to play is the most important part of our plan.”

Harasymowycz contributes one of the reasons for switching to the new formation is because he has three setters and wide range of versatility with them.

“The girls have worked really hard to make sure they learn, and learn how to win,” Harasymowycz said.

He has had a very positive influence on the attitude and atmosphere within the volleyball circle. Junior and Captain Alyssa Berg shares the same ideas and goals with her coach when it comes to NCAA play and the 20 wins needed to get them there.

“He is making a lot of changes this year that I think will take this program even further than it has gone in the past,” Berg said.

Berg will take on the position of a right side hitter, which is change from the middle position she played last season. Berg feels that an important part of her contribution to the team is setting a good example during practices as well as on game day.

“I want to help my team by doing my job on the court so then it will be easier for everyone else to do theirs,” Berg said. “Overall, we have a great group of girls on and off the court, and I’m excited to start the season.”

View the 2006 Griffon Volleyball schedule