Box Score Warner Southern College Box Score Missouri Baptist University
January 26, 2008
ST. CHARLES, MO- Taking the court after a disappointing first day, the Graceland Men’s Volleyball team looked to strike gold against two tough non-conference opponents. In what turned out to be two hard-fought four game matches, the Yellowjackets came up short and ended the day 0-2. Graceland showed promising streaks of play however was unable to sustain their play to pull out victory in eight close games.
Squaring off against the unranked Warner Southern College Royals at 11:30 am proved to be a greater challenge than expected as the Yellowjackets fell 1-3 (30-28, 23-30, 26-30, 25-30). Game 1 began with a shaky start for the Yellowjackets who played point for point until taking the lead 26-25 and outscoring the Royals 4-3 in the final stretch to win 30-28 on an overpass kill from junior outside hitter Kevin Allison.
Another tentative start in game 2 put Graceland behind 8-11 before going on a 4 point run. Warner Southern displayed a nearly-flawless serve receive and jumped to a 29-21 lead until 2 Graceland service aces narrowed the gap to 6 before a Warner Southern kill closed out the second game. Game 3 started as a missed serve contest until the Royals pulled ahead to win 30-26. Game 4 was another struggle for control that went back and forth until 16-16 when the Royals’ outsides gave them the advantage. Strong serving brought the Yellowjackets within 4 but ended with a five point deficit, losing 25-30.
“We needed to block and dig more balls. Defense is losing the game for us right now. We’ve got to become better at defense. It’s where we need to put our energy,” Coach Chad McDole said. “Offensively, we’re a very strong team and we’re not even meeting our goals in serve receive, we could be a better passing team but we’re still siding out. The answer is clear: it’s defense we need to get better at.”
Graceland hit a sharp .317 for the match along with posting 1.25 blocks per game and 8.25 digs per game. Senior setter Ainoa Miyashiro led the defensive effort with 2 solo blocks and 2 block assists. He also finished with 51 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Dan Parish and Allison tied for kill leader with 18 kills. However, Parish edged Allison with a slightly more efficient attack hitting .371 on 43 attempts. Junior middle hitter Joe Klein tallied 9 kills with 1 error on 18 attempts (.444).
In the second match of the day against #4 Missouri Baptist University Graceland took advantage of the Spartans lineup changes by never allowing their offense to settle in rhythm. Despite these efforts the Yellowjackets struggled to close out the match losing 1-3 again (33-31, 25-30, 24-30, 28-30).
The fight for control began in game 1 with the Yellowjackets slowly gaining confidence in their play. After falling behind 17-21 they rallied off of a Parish solo block and several Spartan hitting errors to achieve a 33-31 victory. Missouri Baptist came out strong in game 2 until an Allison ace helped regain momentum. Strong serving from Klein and quality swings from Parish kept the game close but Graceland fell behind 23-26 and lost the game 25-30. Game 3 had the Yellowjackets trailing the entire game. The closest Graceland got was 21-22 after a Parish service ace. Graceland jumped ahead to a quick 4-0 lead in game 4 but slowly lost their lead falling behind 13-17. An Allison ace brought the Yellowjackets on top 26-25 yet the #4 Spartans defeated the Graceland attack going on a 5-2 run to win game 4 30-28.
Klein led the team in kills and attack efficiency for the match hitting a remarkable .500 (19 kills, 4 errors, 30 attempts). Miyashiro balanced the offensive and defensive efforts with 47 assists and a team-high 9 digs. Senior middle hitter Austin Isham gave a solid effort in the middle despite a sore shoulder with 1 solo block and 3 block assists. Graceland hit .239 along with a season-high 90% of serves landing inside the court.
“It was frustrating to lose such a close match because we knew that we could beat them,” freshman opposite hitter and defensive specialist Rollin Olaso said. “I thought that everyone was making good contributions to the team, we needed to get pass some obstacles as a team, communicating more, getting our blocks up, and making big hits. We needed to be more of a team not individuals trying to get by.”
Leading the way for the Yellowjackets on day 2 was Klein with a .479 hitting efficiency (28 kills, 5 errors, 28 attempts). Allison tallied a team-high 34 kills for the two matches along with 5 aces. Miyashiro ended the day with 98 assists and 18 digs. Isham finished his solid defensive effort with 1 solo block and 5 block assists. Graceland was outscored 214-239 while hitting .279, blocking 1.375 balls per game, and 8.625 digs per game. Miyashiro also received all-tournament honors for the invitational.
“We’re hanging in every game; it’s just a matter of putting it away at the end,” Isham said. “I like our team this year and I’m looking forward to the rest of our season and guys getting healthy again.” Fellow senior Miyashiro shared similar feelings about the final day of the invitational. “I really feel that we’ve done better. It’s getting a lot better. We just need to be more supportive of each other,” Miyashiro said.
The Yellowjackets head to Quincy University tomorrow to take on #7 Hope International University. After finishing the tournament 0-4, Graceland looks to rebound against this non-conference opponent at 3:30 pm. “I watched them play today and they’ll be a tough team to beat,” Assistant Coach Carlos Hernandez said. “They have a strong defensive core and a solid lefty from the right side. This will be another good chance for us to see how we compare to the rest of the country.” Graceland ended the day with their record falling to 0-5 overall.
For More Information on Graceland University Athletics Contact:
Matt Shelton, Sports Information Director
(641) 784-5318
mshelton@graceland.edu
