Lady 'Jays again thwarted by Bethel for NAIA bid
Bethel again ends Tabor's NAIA hopes
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
It's becoming traditional for the Lady Bluejays to field a KCAC championship-caliber team.
But that's the furthest it seems to go with Tabor's season extending no further than the league tournament.
And Bethel often has a hand in that.
For the second straight year, Bethel knocked the Bluejays out in Saturday's final game of the KCAC championship in Hillsboro.
Bethel swept the Bluejays in three, 30-24, 30-27 and 30-28, ending Tabor's year at 21-overall and 17-3 in the KCAC.
"It was a hard one to lose, that's for sure," Bluejay coach Amy Ratzlaff said of being eliminated for the second straight season by her alma mater. "Bethel played a good game and they deserved it. It was a shocking way to lose.
"Maybe this will light a fire under us for next year. It's just a bump we need to get over (getting past the league tournament)."
Tabor's offense never seemed to get on track the whole day, making it hard to get footing.
"We played good," Ratzlaff said. "It wasn't mental errors on our part, it was just a few mistakes here and there that added up to points we could never recover from."
Bethel knotted the game up at 20-20 before using a 10-4 run to pull two wins away from advancing.
With the score again tied up at 20-20 in game three, the Bluejays pulled ahead, 23-20.
But Tabor couldn't put the Threshers away, giving up the winning points on a block and a spike.
Shannon Kroeker led the Bluejay defense with 11 kills, Erin Loewen added 10 with Laura Campbell contributing seven more.
Angela Kroeker and Rachelle Regier had six a piece.
"Shannon and Erin had a phenomenal tournaments," Ratzlaff said, "as did Sara Haggard and Jill Hein.
"Jill really gave us a spark defensively. We are spoiled by having her play defense for us."
Something else Tabor managed to repeat for the second consecutive year was having Ratzlaff tabbed the league's top coach.
Campbell, Haggard, Carmen Hein (the KCAC's defensive specialist of the year) and Angela Kroeker were chosen as first-team league selections.
Loewen and Regier were named honorable mention.
"I'm proud of how our girls played this year and of the season we had," Ratzlaff said. "They worked hard, and I love coaching them."
Tabor will again field a team in 2003 that is likely to vie for the KCAC crown with only Adri Bechtold and Melody Fitzsimmons out of eligibility.
