After a week of rest, the Wildcat volleyball team showed up fresh in Tuesday's conference victory over Central Methodist University. Season at a glance.<a href="volleyball">Season at a glance.</a> (Story continued below.) (Story continued below.) Season at a glance. (Story continued below.)
Watch KNBU-TV's interview with Alexis Pryor, volleyball team captain, part of Wildcat Chat.<a href="http://youtube.com/user/KNBU" target="_blank">Wildcat Chat.</a> Wildcat Chat.
View photos of volleyball practice. <a href="http://www.bakeru.edu/orangeline/0708slideshows/volleypractice" target="_blank">View photos of volleyball practice. </a> View photos of volleyball practice.
The Wildcats dominated a weaker Central Methodist team in four games: 30-16, 30-16, 25-30 and 30-22. Head coach Kathy Allen said she was pleased with the team’s overall play.
“We played very well (Tuesday). Everything was working for us,” she said. “We just kind of played fundamental volleyball.”
Senior Katie Jaschke said she thought the team maintained composure throughout the evening against a lower-level opponent.
“I thought that we had a lot of fun and we stayed up the whole time,” she said. “The intensity really kept us going even when we were really far ahead of them.”
Allen said she was impressed A with seniors Kelly Wilbur and Jaschke, both who finished the night with six blocks each. Commanding the front row was freshman Brooke Pryor, who finished with 15 kills to lead the team, followed by junior Alexis Pryor who finished with 11. Sophomore Sarah Laha carried the defense with 13 digs and perfect passing for the night with a 3.0 rating on a 3.0 scale.
Laha said she was happy with her individual performance and with how the team played.
“Like I am for every conference game, I was excited to play and felt really focused,” she said. “I think we played really well. The scores show every game we dominated except for the one we lost. We had a little let down but we played really well and had fun and everything just clicked.”
Entering Tuesday’s dual, the ‘Cats had a week’s worth of rest to prepare for the match. Allen said the team had three days off to rest and be prepared for upcoming competition.
“You can’t really put your finger on it, but sometimes I think that rest is even more imortant than practice,” Allen said. “It gives bodies time to recover and regroup.”
“I think that its benefits far outweighed the repetitions,” Allen said. “They didn’t let down a bit tonight. They did great.”
Jaschke said she thought the rest enabled the team to come out fresh and perform well.
“I think that it was actually for the best,” she said. “It gave us a break and time to catch up on homework and get stuff done.”
The Wildcats will look to continue their momentum and show up fresh once more in the Lindenwood Fall Classic today and Saturday in St. Charles, Mo.
Laha said the team is excited to play against a couple of teams who are ranked in the region.
“I think if we go in with the mindset that we’re going to take care of things, then we will,” she said. “We have to go into every single game with the same mentality, and we need to keep playing our games until it’s over.”
