by Jeanette Regier | Sep 22, 2018
The Calvary University Warriors volleyball team fell in straight sets (3-0) to Emmaus Bible College in their eleventh match of the 2018 season. “We received a good education in college volleyball from the #1 team in the nation,” Head Coach Ashley Spicer said. “The players saw the quickness, strength, and size of a terrific team on the other side of the net which will help us continue to prepare for the future.”
The Emmaus Eagles are a strong NCCAA program and proved to be a tough test for the Lady Warriors on Saturday. In the first set, the Warriors came out firing on all cylinders. They strung together several great attacks and gained a lot of momentum. The set went down to the wire with Calvary losing 23-25. The Eagles stepped up their game in the second and third sets and came out roaring from the opening serve. They won both sets in convincing fashion 9-25, 11-25.
Overall, the team continued to gain valuable experience against a high level of competition. “Today showed how far we have come and how much we still have to learn before we can consistently compete at that level,” Coach Spicer said. “Our serve receive has really stepped it up in the past few games against some good serving teams. We just need some answers defensively.”
The team will finish up this homestand on Tuesday night against Kansas Christian College and Manhattan Christian College starting at 5 pm.
by Jeanette Regier | Sep 21, 2018
One goal by Faith Baptist in OT proved to be the difference as the Warriors fell to The Eagles 1-0 on Friday afternoon. “This was a tough loss for us,” Head coach Daniel Nichols said. “Our defense played well and offensively we created more good looks but were not able to capitalize.”
The Warriors were looking to pick up their first conference win of the season as they took the field in Belton, MO. During the first half, the Eagles moved the ball into position with good combination plays several times, but Seth Bielenberg made several key saves. The Warriors had opportunities of their own but failed to capitalize. The Warrior defense stood strong to keep it 0-0 at the half.
As the second half began, the Warriors desperately looked for the tiebreaker. They nearly got it off several beautiful opportunities created by some terrific midfield work from Noah Wittenbach and Aedan Wilson working the ball to Takaya Takagi. The Warriors continued to shore up their defense with excellent play in the back from Micah Wildasin, Masaki Ouchi, Wade Smith, and Tim Gleason.
With each passing minute, the Warriors offensive urgency became that much more intense as the team worked up the field to score. Despite their efforts, the Warriors couldn’t find the back of the net. The final whistle ended to send the game to overtime in a 0-0 tie. Six minutes into the overtime period Faith was able to break down the CU defense and finally get the golden goal that ended the great game.
Next up, the Warriors play Emmaus at home tomorrow at 2 pm.
by Jeanette Regier | Sep 21, 2018
Calvary volleyball was at home Tuesday evening to face Union College. CU proceeded to claim the home court advantage and capture a 3-0 victory.
Set one saw Calvary start out strong with an 11-6 lead, but Union narrowed the gap before the Lady Warriors closed out the set with a 25-15 win. In set two, Calvary came out strong with a 7-2 run, thanks in part to four consecutive kills by the dynamic frontcourt duo of Kaela Gingrich and Anna Holloway. Although Union matched up well the remainder of the game, they could not overcome the early deficit and dropped set 2, 17-25. The third set found both teams well-matched, but a strong 7-2 rally as the match was winding down by the home team, helped Calvary finished strong 26-24.
Lack of errors proved to be key in the ladies’ home game win, as they posted a hitting percentage of .24 for the game, while Union hit at .18 percent.
Leading the Lady Warriors in the stat chart were: Tori Stahr (19 assists), Anna Holloway (10 kills), and Kaela Gingrich (8 kills).
The Lady Warriors record now stands at 4-3, and they will return to their home court this weekend to host Faith Baptist Bible College at 6 pm, CDT.
by Jeanette Regier | Sep 12, 2018
The Calvary Warriors volleyball team continued their impressive start to the 2018 season as the team defeated Kansas Christian College (3-0) on Tuesday to move to 3-2 on the season.
“It has been a good start to our young season,” Warriors Head Coach Ashley Spicer said. “We’ve had great contributions from several individuals at key times. We still have a lot of individual work to do which will improve our team play.”
In the match Tuesday, the Warriors battled the Falcons. The Warriors came out with solid hitting and setting from the start. Tori Stahr provided the assists offensively as the sophomore had 22 assists for the match. Her spark helped the team to take the opening set 25-17.
The Falcons came back looking to even things up in the second set as they did some nice things. Thanks to their hustle and 18 service aces, the Warriors created their own energy and motivation in sets two and three, winning both with the scores 25-12, 25-12.
by Jeanette Regier | Sep 11, 2018
The Falcons scored two early goals and the Warriors couldn’t find the answer as Calvary dropped their third game Tuesday afternoon 1-4 in Overland Park “We took some good steps forward tonight,” Warriors Head Coach Daniel Nichols said. “Our guys didn’t get down on each other and we responded well.”
In the opening minutes, the Falcons came out strong as they used good passing to move into the attacking third. The Warriors defense was able to handle the pressure as they cleared out several chances early on but missed on two as the Falcons went up early 0-2 before the fourth minute.
The Warriors tried to claw their way back to tie the game and got one goal back in the 19th minute when Takuya Takagi was able to finish on a great assist from Aedan Wilson. As the first half came to a close, the score remained 1-2.
In the second half, the Warriors came out with some urgency. The score remained 1-2 throughout the first part of the second half. As the second half began to close out the Falcons got two additional goals to finish the game with a 1-4 final score.
“We didn’t do quite what we needed to offensively,” Coach Nichols said. “But we did some good things tonight. We stayed mentally engaged on defense and our effort was consistent.” “Seth Bielenberg had a terrific game in the goal for us as he had 11 saves. Several were very key ones.” “Aedan and Tak responded great offensively and gave us a chance to put points on the board.” “Wade and Masaki were both playing Center Back and did a fabulous job of communicating tonight.”
Next up, the team will be on the road Saturday as they travel to Ankeny, IA for a matchup with Faith Baptist.
