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Tiger volleyball team wins
By NICK McQUEEN
Hays Daily News
An 11-8 record for the Fort Hays State University volleyball team so far in 2007 hasn't come all that easy.
Especially being at the bottom of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's West Division at 0-3.
For the Tigers, it is just good to be beating those teams they should be beating -- no matter how hard they had to fight to get it done.
In Saturday's contest with Bethany College, the No. 9 ranked team in NAIA, Fort Hays certainly had to respond with vigor to get the job done, taking a 3-1 nonconference win at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
"They took them too lightly. A lot of it was our errors," Tiger coach Steven Smith said. "Bethany is a much-improved team and they're a good and growing program.
"Their philosophy was just to keep putting the ball back on us and we would make stupid mistakes," Smith added.
Fort Hays came out strong in Game 1, doubling up the Swedes, 30-15, behind an eight-kill, eight-point effort by junior Leanna Roberts. Senior Kellyn Thaut added six kills.
"I could say I am pretty pleased with how they brought it in Game 1," Smith said. "Game 2, absolutely not."
Fort Hays struggled in Game 2 with seven attack errors and six serving errors in the game and struggled to put Bethany (9-5) away after taking a 23-19 lead and ended up falling, 31-29.
"It started on a stretch where we went a full rotation and missed five out of six serves," Smith said. "There is no comprehending the depths with how angry I was at that. But, they came back in Game 3 and responded and in Game 4, they relaxed a little bit."
In Game 3, Thaut went on the attack, garnering nine kills for the Tigers and Roberts added four more to give the Tigers a 30-14 win.
"You're not going to beat anyone just because you're Fort Hays, especially in the MIAA, and you have to take every single opponent seriously," Smith said. "It's just kind of a learning moment for them."
In the final game, Fort Hays surrendered a four-point lead to the Swedes early, but took command for good on a kill by senior Neeley Remmers to put the Tigers up 16-15 as Fort Hays won 30-27.
Missouri Southern 3, Fort Hays 1
After taking a 1-0 lead on Missouri Southern in Friday's MIAA match at GMC, the Tigers dropped three straight games to fall to 0-3 in MIAA play on the year.
Missouri Southern (10-7, 1-3) battled back after taking a 30-27 loss in the opener. The Lions came back to win, 30-25, 30-19 and 30-20 for their first MIAA win and to move in front of the Tigers in the MIAA West Division.
"It shows you the depth of the MIAA. They played Pitt State very tough," Smith said of the Lions. "They are very technically sound defensively. We basically got outplayed in the back court."
Thaut had 21 kills in the match and Remmers added 13.
"They frustrated our hitters. Overall, it wasn't a case of us giving up or being really sloppy," Smith said. "They legitimately beat us on a night when they were on."
Sports reporter Nick McQueen can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 128 or by e-mail at nmcqueen@dailynews.net
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