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Tigers swept at home

10/21/2007

By WILL MANLY

Hays Daily News

A few years ago, volleyball matches between University of Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State University were frequent happenings, featured two elite programs and carried heavy implications for the conference and the nation.

The teams played Saturday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum with a much different dynamic: it was the only meeting between them this season, they're in different conferences now and both have fallen from the stature they once enjoyed.

Nebraska-Kearney won the nonconference match 3-0 (30-19, 30-23, 30-21). The Lopers improved to 23-4; Fort Hays fell to 15-14.

It was the Lopers' ninth straight win against Fort Hays. By that count, the Tigers are about due -- in 85 historic matches between the teams, Fort Hays has won nine of them, or one every nine or 10 tries.

"Kearney's an awful good team," said Fort Hays coach Steve Smith. "They don't make many mistakes. They have a lot of very solid players."

In 2004, the teams met four times: Twice in the regular season, then in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship match, then again in the regional championship with a trip to the national finals on the line.

All four times, Nebraska-Kearney won. Despite rampaging through the rest of the RMAC that year, going 31-5, finishing ranked in No. 12 in the country and losing to just one other team it played, Fort Hays failed to win so much as a game against UNK in four matches.

The same is true of 2007. At least that last part.

This was the only meeting on the schedule between Fort Hays and Nebraska-Kearney. Nebraska-Kearney is ranked No. 22 in the nation, a far cry from No. 1, where the Lopers were for most of the year in 2004. And Fort Hays is fighting for a spot in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association tournament. And still, the Tigers can't beat the Lopers. They led just twice in the match -- at 1-0 and 2-1 in the second game.

In all three games, the Lopers jumped out to quick leads. They were up 9-0 in Game 1, 15-6 in Game 2 and 8-1 in Game 3.

"They're good servers. And they're a good team," said Fort Hays junior hitter Jessica Faulkner, who had eight kills off the bench. "I think we just got down on ourselves early."

Smith said it was the team's worst showing in a year.

"Very flat," he said. We "really, really lacked the energy.

"I think we lacked a lot of discipline on individual contacts," he said. "It's just hard to get momentum back."

Worse than losing the nonconference match, the Tigers also lost senior hitter Neeley Remmers, who went down in the first game with a shoulder injury. She did not return and her future status was uncertain after the match.

"That's a potentially devastating loss for us," Smith said. "We weren't playing well to begin with, and to lose her, she provides us a spark a lot of the time when nobody else does."

The Tigers play again Thursday at Emporia State in MIAA action. They have three conference matches left on the schedule. Saturday's contest didn't count for conference considerations.

Fort Hays still uses matches against Nebraska-Kearney as blackout night at GMC. Fan still call it a rivalry -- the 388 in attendance was among the biggest crowds the Tigers have played for this year. It's a new situation, but the contests between Fort Hays and Nebraska-Kearney still have the same look and feel.

And the result hasn't changed.

Will Manly is a reporter for The Hays Daily News and The Stir. He can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 139, or by e-mail at will@thestironline.com.

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