Lady 'Jays stub toe in KCAC semifinals
Bethel saves best game for last, knocking out Tabor, again
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Beating a team twice is no easy task, let alone three times — even when the team is the Bethel Lady Threshers, somebody Tabor hasn't had the best of luck against when a KCAC volleyball title is on the line.
Besides last year, history sadly repeated itself again Thursday night in Hillsboro in the semifinal round of the KCAC tournament between the Threshers and the Bluejays.
After being swept during the regular season, Bethel saved its best performance for last, ending Tabor's (19-12, 15-4 KCAC) season in five games.
"It's a shock to be done but Bethel played a great match," said Bluejay coach Amy Ratzlaff. "They played us better than they have and their offense went more smoothly.
"The women fought hard, we just came up short. I was really pleased with our season though and what we accomplished."
Bethel took the first match, 30-26 before the Bluejays took advantage of Thresher hitting errors to pull to a 2-1 lead with 30-24 and 30-21 victories in the respective second and third games.
Tabor tumbled the next game 30-25 to send it to five.
With the season and the title at stake, the Bluejays fell 15-12 with Bethel securing the ticket Saturday to take on regular season co-champion Ottawa.
"We fought so hard it really backfired on us," Ratzlaff said. "I can't criticize us for trying hard. The women were ready to go on, but the season ended before we had a chance to meet the goals we had for the post-season.
"After a week or two, we'll look back and see how big a season we really had."
Staci Whitcomb paced the Bluejays with 18 kills, three aces while Erin Loewen added 12 kills. Jill Hein contributed nine and Lindsey Vogts followed with eight to go along with two blocks.
Hein and Johannah Love also had three aces a piece.
For their outstanding outings, Whitcomb and junior setter Anne Gunden were selected to the KCAC first team with Hein and Loewen earning honorable mention recognition.
Thursday also marked a sad ending to a stellar career with Loewen playing her final game.
"We were a young team and we hadn't played together for a long time," said Loewen. "We probably had a lot more talent on this team though than any other team I've ever played on. It just didn't come together for us when we needed it to but it was a great group of girls. It just didn't fall our way."
It was unfortunate the Bluejays couldn't have caught the Threshers two days later in the final game at Ottawa with Bethel being swept in three.
"That's the best I've seen them play," Loewen said of the Threshers' semifinal performance. "Even when we went up to Ottawa for the championship game, they (Bethel) didn't play that good.
"They played really well and we didn't play our best game."
Despite the huge shoes Loewen leaves to fill, the Bluejays are already gearing up for next season and another run at a fifth straight league title.
Volleyball players earn KCAC honors
The 2004 all-conference volleyball team and honorable mention lists of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference have been named by the 10 head coaches.
Named to the first team were Anne Gunden, junior, setter, and Staci Whitcomb, sophomore, outside hitter.
Honorable mention was given to Jill Hein, junior, middle hitter, and Erin Loewen, senior, outside hitter.
