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Key MIAA win for Tiger volleyball
10/22/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL cnicholl@dailynews.net
Senior Lydia Karnopp is the lone four-year player for the Fort Hays State University volleyball team. A two-year starter, Karnopp has seen the Tigers struggle in transitioning from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to the stronger Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
In the first three years of MIAA play, Fort Hays finished 5-41 in conference play and never won more than two matches.
On Wednesday, the Tigers set two new benchmarks in a wild 3-2 victory (17-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14) against Missouri Western State University at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Fort Hays moved to 7-18 overall, 3-9 in conference play and set a record for most MIAA victories.
"It means a lot," Karnopp said. "I have been here four years now and I have just been waiting for this to happen. It's just awesome. We knew where we were at coming into this season. It's awesome to increase our standings."
In addition, Fort Hays swept the season series versus Missouri Western (8-16 overall, 1-10 MIAA), the first time the Tigers have swept an MIAA opponent since they changed conferences.
The Tigers, who won their first home match of the fall, moved to ninth in the conference, just a half-game out of seventh. Fort Hays has never finished in the top eight in the MIAA.
"It's huge to move up in the conference because our conference is one of the most competitive in the country," Tiger first-year coach Kurt Kohler said.
The Tigers are two wins away from matching last season's victory total and moved to 3-3 against unranked MIAA teams, a group that includes Missouri Western, Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University, Missouri Southern State University and Northwest Missouri State University.
"One thing that we really pushed after our non-conference season was done, our tournaments were done, that we have to win through the conference if we are going to match or better our record from last year," Kohler said. "I just wanted to make sure that we were focused on the games that we should be winning, and one of the things that we talked about is winning the bottom half of the conference. If we can win the bottom part, we are in a position to make a big move in the next couple of years."
Helped by an improved defense and a position change for senior outside hitter Lilian Rezende, Fort Hays moved to 2-2 in five-set matches this season, a big improvement over last season's 1-5 mark. Both wins against Missouri Western came in five sets.
"I knew it was going to happen," Karnopp said. "I had no doubt. I just knew that we were going to put it away. It's exciting."
The Tigers, though, dropped the first set 25-17. Fort Hays has had constant change in the middle all season, losing two starters for the year in junior Amber Hockman and freshman Adriana Luna. The Tigers started sophomore Rebecca Mausbach, a season-long starter, and junior Antonia Jones, primarily a backup, in the middle.
"I really like Lilian hitting on the outside and Jones was going to be the primary middle for this game," Kohler said.
However, Fort Hays did not have a block in Game 1. Missouri Western, the conference's worst hitting team statistically, hit .432 in the first set. After Game 1, the defense helped Fort Hays contain Missouri Western all-conference junior outside hitter Kelli Sicner, who hit .600 in Game 1. In the final four games, Sicner hit -.073.
"We just didn't show up with much intensity," Kohler said. "We made a couple of changes in Game 2, having Lilian block in the middle instead of Antonia. I think that helped out, gave us a little better block on our outside hitters. Once we were able to block a few balls, we were able to get some confidence back and started playing harder."
Rezende, the team's lone all-conference player, had been a starting outside hitter for two years for the Tigers. Kohler called the change "a last minute thing" and made the switch after the Game 1 performance.
Rezende, the team's third tallest player at 6-foot-1, finished with one solo block and three block assists, including three blocks in a six-point swing in the third set. Overall, Fort Hays tied a season-high with 10 blocks.
"We are switching people through the middle and seeing who can hold that spot and today, Super, she owned it," Karnopp said of Rezende. "She was a good choice for the spot."
Down 2-1, Fort Hays was tied 12-12 in Game 4 before an 11-6 run helped put the set away. Jones, Rezende and freshman Makayla McPhail had two kills apiece in the run. Overall, Jones, a 5-9 transfer from State Fair (Mo.) Community College, collected 15 kills, one off her career high, and hit .333. Rezende had a team-high 17 kills and 18 digs, while McPhail collected 14 kills.
"We've been pretty confident all year that we can come back from being down," Kohler said.
"Our kids continue to play hard, and that is something being down 2-1, we knew that we were in that same position at Missouri Western (on Sept. 16). We knew we needed to push through, and these kids wanted that win tonight. They were ready to compete hard. It was fun to watch them."
In the fifth set, Fort Hays took an early 7-4 lead before Missouri Western rallied for a 10-9 advantage. The Tigers regained the lead on back-to-back Jones kills. At 13-13, Karnopp hit a kill into the back right corner and gave Fort Hays its first match point.
"It's really a lot about our energy," Karnopp said. "We have to come out wanting every ball, wanting to win every rally, every point. It's all about our mindset."
Missouri Western saved a match point before another Karnopp kill and a Griffon hitting error finished the two-hour match -- and set several new benchmarks for the Tigers.
"It's awesome," Karnopp said.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |