Volleyball looks to strike back at MWC

by Mallory Mulvihill
Sports Editor

The women's volleyball team finally participated in their first conference match of the season, after playing 14 non-conference matches, against Lake Forest on Oct. 4. The Scots made the journey to Lake Forest, in which traffic held them up, and got off to a slow, rocky start.

"I was worried coming off the bus. I knew we would be groggy, because we wouldn't get a complete warmup," said Coach Shimmin, "we got on the bus at 1:15pm and didn't even get off the bus till ten to six."

The women tried to shake off the drive in first match, but couldn't help but a little off as they lost their first game 30-23. The women switched sides of the net and Coach Kari Shimmin gave her girls a little pep talk.

"I had no motivating words for the girls after the first match. We came there to win. We talked about some offensive strategies and I told them to clean up their errors" said Shimmin.

The Scots back in the second game before a very loud and rowdy Lake Forest crowd to win the next two matches 30-24 and 30-27.

The Scots, hoping to take the fourth match to end the game, were plagued with another 10-error hitting game. They again lost to the Foresters 30-23.

"There were two or three opportunities that we should have capitalized on. We had some over passes without a block that we should have scored points on and we just didn't put the ball down. We started to tip a lot more, so Lake Forest was running more slides through their middles which is their entire offense," added Shimmin.  The Scots then headed into the last and decisive match of the game.

The women jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but the Foresters hung strong and got the game to a nail biting 7-6.  Shimmin called a timeout to relax her team. The Scots were then ahead 13-11, but made two hitting errors that left the game tied. Sophomore Jessica Travis saved the day as she put down a kill to put the Scots up one and just one point away from victory. She stepped behind the back line to serve and aced the Foresters to win the match and the game 15-13. "I had no timeouts left at 13-13, so I just told the girls to run the same play we had just talked about, and Travis smacked the ball cross court and Lake Forest's setter. Then she just went back there to serve and aced them," commented Shimmin.

Sophomore Kendra James kept up her play as a big middle. She finished the five match game with 18 kills and three blocks. Senior Karissa Murray also held strong with 12 kills of her own to go along with 28 digs. Travis finished the game with 11 kills, 21 digs, and four aces, and sophomore setter Colleen Wilkin tossed out 56 assists. Freshman liberos, Crystal Meyers keeps adding to her numbers as she finished with 28 digs of her own, and Jessica Serritella contributed with 21.

"Both out defensive specialists, Crystle and Jessica played really well," said Shimmin.

The Scots traveled to the Millikin Tournament on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. They played four games in two days and came out of the tourney with a 2-2 record.

The Scots then played a tough Millikin team and lost in three straight sets 16-30, 25-30, 26-30. "Millikin is a tough team, but we saw better teams in the Plateville Tournament," said Shimmin. In the short game, Wilkin tossed out 31 assists, Murray had 8 kills, and Meyers had seven digs.

The Scots played a tough five set match in their second game against Manchester which they lost 39-37, 30-28, 25-30, 24-30, 10-15. The women set a school record in the first match as they battled to come out victorious in a long 39-37 match.

"That game was very frustrating, because Manchester is so scrappy. They played excellent defense and we just couldn't get a kill down. It was a game we should have won though," commented Shimmin.

Wilkin handed out 52 assists in which 20 of those were to James, who also had four blocks. Travis added 14 kills and 19 digs. Meyers had a stellar performance with 34 digs.

The women came back strong the next day to win both of their games against Lincoln Christian and Anderson University.

"It was just about the girls digging down deep on Saturday. The girls knew they weren't playing to their potential, and after the Manchester game, we started to be the scrappy team. They really stepped it up on Saturday," said Shimmin.

The Scots took on a struggling Anderson University squad and beat them in four games 27-30, 30-27, 30-21, 30-28. Wilkin again brought home 52 assists and James had another outstanding performance at the net finished with 25 kills and five blocks. Travis and junior Kari Jefferson each added 10.

The Scots finished off their weekend with a quick three game match to beat Lincoln Christian 30-14, 30-21, 30-28. James and Murray finished with 10 and 7 kills apiece, while Wilkin handed out 23 assists.

James finished the weekend with 60 kills and .392 hitting percentage. "James is just playing very well right now. She is learning not to hit to the same place, hit around the block. She is trying some new hits, and all the challenges we keep throwing at her; she keeps answering," commented Shimmin.

Other leaders for the Scots after this weekend were, Wilkin with 158 assists and now has 812 on the year, Meyers with 67 digs, Murray with 27 kills and 14 aces, Travis with 33 kills, and Jefferson with 22.

The Scots host the second leg of the MWC Crossover Tournament this weekend in Glennie Gymnasium. The women are 13-9 and host Carroll College and Lawrence on Oct. 8.