Hillsboro, Kan. - After ripping off nine straight victories, Tabor's run at the KCAC tournament championship and a spot in the NAIA national championship ended Friday evening in North Newton Kan. The Lady Jays fell to Bethany College, in four games (23-25, 15-25, 25-16, 21-25).
"It was hard to lose that game because I feel like we had been gaining speed as a team over the last month, and I just wanted to see what this team was capable of," said Head Coach Amy Ratzlaff."
"I believe we came ready to play, but we were just trying so hard that we made unusual errors - errors we had not been making these last several weeks.
The Bluejays feel behind early, dropping the first two games before rallying to take game three with hopes of carrying the momentum over to game four. Bethany proved to be up to the challenge as it took game four 25-21 to win the match.
"Our unforced errors hurt us early in game two and four," said Ratzlaff. "In Game three we cut our errors down, and just played good volleyball."
Tabor used a balanced offensive attack against the Swedes. Four Bluejays recorded double-digit kills, led by sophomore Jordan Crosson (Minneapolis, Kan.) with 14. Freshman Gina Hullet (Abilene, Kan.), added 12 kills, while juniors Ashley Cohlmia (Wichita, Kan.), and Carly Kroeker (Henderson, Neb.), each chipped in with 11.
Senior Audrey Schellenberg (Wichita, Kan.) capped off her remarkable senior year by dishing out 51 assists to help aid the Bluejays offense.
Andrea Batista (Hagerman, N.M.) finished the season strong, as she led the Bluejays defensively with 15 digs. Cohlmia chipped in with 11 digs, while Schellenberg and freshman Mandi Phillips (Halstead, Kan.), each added eight digs apiece.
"Audrey had 12.7 assists per game versus Bethany, which is a tremendous performance," said Ratzlaff. "Jordan Crosson led us in kills with 14 and a .375 hitting percentage which is amazing. Gina Hullet, Cortney Janzen, and Carly Kroeker all made an enormous impact on our team in the second round. They combined for 30 total kills of our 56 total for the game and played a solid offensive game versus Bethany."
"The team believes we had a great season, we just wish we could have another day," added Ratzlaff.
The Bluejays will graduate three seniors from this year's team: Clancey Kelly, Audrey Schellenberg, and Heather Witham all will be truly missed. But with many young faces and a host of experienced players returning expect the Bluejays to be a force next season in the KCAC.
