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Tiger volleyball in for tough weekend against ranked teams
9/25/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
During the nonconference slate, the Fort Hays State University volleyball team sometimes set its middle hitters 15, 16 times per match, an unusually low number. The Tigers had to rely heavily on their outside hitters and went 3-9 in nonconference play with six 3-0 losses.
Against tougher competition in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, Fort Hays has set its middles more, yielded better play and produced a stronger start in conference than in past seasons.
"As we are building up our middle sets, giving them the ball a few more times, we are able to improve our offense because it takes some of the pressure off our outsides," first-year Tiger coach Kurt Kohler said. "That is the big reason why we are playing a lot better, is we get our middles more involved."
Helped by sophomore Rebecca Mausbach's play, Fort Hays (4-12) is 1-3 in conference, yet lost to unranked Northwest Missouri State University in five sets and took ranked Truman State (Mo.) University and Pittsburg State University to four sets last weekend. It marked the first time since Fort Hays changed conferences four years ago that the Tigers led a ranked team and won a set against ranked squads in back-to-back matches.
"We all want to win so bad and we feel like we know we can do it, it's just that we have to keep pushing each other to get better and better," Mausbach said. "We are all really excited to be on this team together because it's a lot different than last year."
Mausbach, the team's tallest player at 6-foot-2, saw limited time as a freshman. In nonconference play, she said the game was still "just a little bit fast" as she delivered 1.46 kills per set, 0.68 blocks per set and hit .097. Versus MIAA teams, she has collected 1.78 kills per set, 0.78 blocks and hit .162. It's the biggest jump of any Tiger in kills and blocks. The hitting percentage increase ranks second, behind freshman Morgan Witzel.
"I still wasn't used to it, but it got better," Mausbach said.
"It feels like everything is clicking right now. Just to be smarter, not to try to slam the ball even if it's a great set and I have people up blocking me. I have learned to see that better. I have learned to cut around balls."
The Tigers will finish their five-match homestand this weekend against No. 18 University of Nebraska-Omaha, which is 14-3 overall and a league-best 4-0, at 7 p.m. on Friday and No. 9 University of Central Missouri (13-3 overall, 3-1 MIAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum. In all three MIAA losses, Fort Hays has won the first set before dropping the second.
"We come out firing in the first set," Mausbach said. "We are Fort Hays, nobody expects us to do good and they all get surprised. I think we do good and we do a lot of positive things, but I think we have a lot of negative things, too."
While Fort Hays still leads the conference in hitting errors by a substantial margin, one positive has been the middles' play.
The Tigers, who lost LeAnna Roberts and Alissa Tonniges to graduation, have retooled with Mausbach and freshman Audriana Luna, who replaced junior Amber Hockman two weeks ago after Hockman suffered a season-ending illness.
In the first conference match, a 3-2 win against Missouri Western State University, Fort Hays set the middles 30, 32 times. It was the same in a 3-2 loss to Northwest Missouri State on Friday. During the weekend, Mausbach and Luna had 26 attempts against Truman State, 37 versus Pittsburg State.
"More confident, taking better swings, becoming better players," Kohler said. "That is going to help us down the stretch a lot. Not hitting balls out of bounds. It's important that middles are always hitting positive numbers. If those players are hitting negative, then we are going to struggle as a team."
Ideally, Kohler wants his middles to hit better than .200, preferably .230 to .240. Mausbach hit .238 versus Missouri Western and .267 against Truman State.
"Everyone else is pushing me, too, to do better," Mausbach said.
"I feel like I am getting better, and it helps when everybody is telling me where to hit and everybody is practicing so hard."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |