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Tiger volleyball team dominates
10/4/2007
By WILL MANLY
Hays Daily News
Having gone toe-to-toe against two of the nation's best teams last week (and getting thumped) the Fort Hays State University volleyball team got a break Wednesday night.
Last week, the Tigers lost to mighty Central Missouri (No. 5 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll) and Pittsburg State (No. 14).
Wednesday night, the Tigers beat meek Oklahoma-Panhandle State University (ranked third among those present at Gross Memorial Coliseum Wednesday -- Fort Hays was first, any six fans sitting in the FHSU student section a distant second).
Fort Hays made quick work of OPSU, dispatching the Aggies in three easy games (30-17, 30-17, 3-17). The Tigers improved to 13-10 on the year but, as the match was nonconference, they remain in last place in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association at 0-5. The Aggies dropped to 1-21.
After two of the nation's best last week, and with conference matches against Missouri Western, Northwest MIssouri State and Southwest Baptist -- three teams just ahead of the Tigers in the race for a slot in the MIAA tournament -- in the next six days, the match against OPSU could have become a trap.
Even after being swept twice last week, Fort Hays coach Steve Smith was too concerned about his team playing down to the level of its competition to find relief in an easy win.
"I know how we can play when we relax too much," he said. "It was really nice to have them come out and perform. It wasn't a great match. It certainly wasn't a poor match for us. It's just like takin' care of business."
How much better are the Tigers than the Aggies? Fort Hays senior hitter Kellyn Thaut had 17 kills. Oklahoma-Panhandle State's team had 18.
"We are the stronger team, but look at us last year. A team could come back and do something," Thaut said, referring to the Tigers' 3-25 season a year ago. "We just have fun, that's what we did tonight. It was awesome, I loved it."
It was like Fort Hays was making fun of Oklahoma-Panhandle State. Fans in the student section wore oversized cardboard belt buckles in an apparent jab at OPSU's level of sophistication. Before the game, the Gross Memorial Coliseum public address announcer welcomed the team "from the big city of Goodwell, Okla."
That's the big city of Goodwell, Okla., population 1,192. Goodwell makes Hays look urban and the Aggies made the Tigers look All-Universe.
Notes
* Fort Hays trails Missouri Western and Missouri Southern, who each have one conference win, in the race for a berth in the MIAA postseason tournament. Northwest Missouri, who the Tigers face this weekend, is 3-3.
*¬ Thaut on the team's 6 p.m. match against Missouri Western today at GMC: "I just looked at their record, and it looks like ours. We know we should have won a couple of more games, and maybe they should have too. It's going to be a really good matchup."
* Fort Hays senior hitter Neeley Remmers had nine kills, senior Sarah Schinstock had eight.
* Oklahoma-Panhandle State had just 18 kills but 25 attack errors.
* The Aggies scored first in all three games but led during just eight of the match's 136 serves.
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.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 5/11 | Central Missouri | L 4-2 |
| BB | 5/10 | Missouri Western | W 4-3 |
| BB | 5/09 | Emporia State | L 6-5 |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | W 17-5 |
| BB | 5/04 | Pittsburg State | L 4-3 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 15-7 |
| BB | 5/03 | Pittsburg State | L 5-4 |
| SB | 5/02 | Central Missouri | L 3-1 |
| SB | 5/02 | Missouri Western | W 3-2 |
| SB | 5/01 | Pittsburg State | W 6-0 |
