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Tiger volleyball team loses player
8/25/2009
Lapham leaves volleyball program over weekend
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Three years ago, defensive specialists Whitney Liggett and Katelyn Lapham, both Colorado natives, entered the Fort Hays State University volleyball program and struggled early.
Still, the pair played often in 2007 and 2008 and Lapham emerged as one of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's top liberos. Lapham, though, wasn't happy playing volleyball and left the team during the weekend.
"I know that she has been thinking about it because we both came in together," Liggett said. "We both had a hard time at the beginning of our freshman year and it did surprise some of us just because of the way she did it. We thought that she would do it before preseason even started."
Lapham's unexpected departure created a revolving door at libero in Fort Hays' annual Black and Gold Scrimmage on Monday night in front of about 200 fans at Gross Memorial Coliseum. More than five Tigers played libero and first-year Tiger coach Kurt Kohler has multiple options for Fort Hays' season opener Friday against Newman University at the University of Nebraska-Kearney tournament.
"She is no longer with us," Kohler said. "Right now, it's up in the air. That's what we just talked about in (the locker room). Somebody has got to step up in the next three days and claim that position."
Lapham, from Colorado Springs, ranked fifth on the team with 178 digs as a freshman. Last season, she was the full-time libero and collected a team-high 4.87 digs per game, third-best in the conference and third-best in Fort Hays history as the Tigers finished 9-25 overall, 2-18 in the MIAA. Lapham's 511 digs stand 10th in Tiger annals.
"Kids like Katelyn come along once in a lifetime," Kohler said at the start of camp. "She has got that mentality that she really wants to be good, that she wants to please coaches and be on the court all the time."
In Monday's scrimmage, though, Kohler used multiple liberos to replace Lapham, including senior Ellen Dreyer, Liggett, sophomore outside hitter Tracie Hileman, freshman defensive specialist Maddy Mall and junior transfer Hilary Mekelburg.
Most of the options have potential drawbacks. Liggett, along with sophomore Lindsey Larson, is expected to start at setter in the 6-2 offense. Both are 5-foot-6.
If Fort Hays goes with just one setter, that exposes the front row defense on certain rotations. Hileman was a starting hitter all last year, while Dreyer, Mall and Mekelburg have little or no experience in the MIAA.
"I thought Ellen did a nice job back there," Kohler said. "Tracie is a very good passer, but we hate to lose her hitting on the outside if we use her. The other option that we looked at is Whitney Liggett running our libero position, but then, we are using one 5-5 setter all the way across that front row and we have a hard time getting that block set. That's a tough situation and something that we are going to have to figure out before Friday, and I have no idea what we are going to do right now."
In the scrimmage, Kohler rotated players through both teams during a five-set match. No official statistics were kept. However, the team did improve defensively as the night progressed. Kohler even jokingly told the players they looked "like cement" early as they adjusted to different liberos and no Lapham.
"It changes a lot when you lost a great libero. I think everybody just the first couple of games just stood around and watched a couple of balls," Kohler said. "Obviously, we weren't being very aggressive. I thought the third, fourth and fifth sets, I thought we were really starting to move a little better and a lot of the roll shots and tips (from) either team, we were able to run through and get. That's what we need to get building on."
Sophomore Rebecca Mausbach, the team's tallest player at 6-2, is expected to be a starting middle hitter after she played sparingly as a freshman. She, along with junior transfer Amber Hockman and junior Brandi Bertrand, are expected to fill the middle positions for a team that ranked last in the conference in blocking in 2008. Hockman is a Phillipsburg native who played at Barton County Community College the last two years.
"(Mausbach) struggled the first week a lot, her back has been hurting her, but (Monday) and (Sunday) she really showed what she can do," Liggett said. "Pretty excited about her, and Bertrand did awesome, too."
"Rebecca's blocking was incredible the first couple of games, and she had some real nice swings," Kohler said.
In Game 3, Kohler rolled out a projected starting lineup, the first time the top Tigers had all played together in a practice or scrimmage. The lineup featured Dreyer at libero, setters Larson and Liggett, and Hileman and senior Lilian Rezende, an all-MIAA honorable mention selection, at starting outside hitter. The middles were Hockman and Mausbach, with senior Lydia Karnopp at right side, sophomores Meghan Good at defensive specialist and Morgan Witzel as another outside hitter.
"I wasn't overly impressed with that group in that third set, but I know that they could come on," Kohler said.
Dreyer and Liggett offer the most experience at libero. Dreyer is a former student assistant coach who played two years at Northwestern (Iowa) College and saw time in four games with Fort Hays last season. Liggett is a two-year starter at setter and defensive specialist who has 546 digs (2.43 digs per game) in her career. Last year, former Tiger coach Steve Smith called Liggett "one of our best athletes" and "one of the quickest kids in the conference, without question."
Liggett also enters the volleyball season at full strength after she missed part of track with a stress fracture. She labeled libero "really fun."
"I wouldn't mind it, going from libero to setter, whichever is fine with me," she said. "I don't (mind). Everyone asks me that, 'what's my favorite, what I would like to do,' but I don't know, I kind of like them both. It's kind of nice to be libero because you can kind of see everything and you feel like you are in more control, but then when you are the setter, you control the game more, too."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |