The Kentucky Wesleyan volleyball team (9-19, 3-7 G-MAC) will take on Trevecca (17-11, 7-3 G-MAC) in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Quarterfinals on Thursday evening at 6:30 CT in Mason, OH. It will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Trevecca won the first two contests, both in straight sets.
Coach
Eric Hagan on last Saturday's match against Trevecca, "Before the match on Saturday, we looked focused, and everyone seemed to be in a good place. We were right there in the first set, but a couple of swings here and there determined the set. After we lost the first set, we just fell apart, and weren't able to get back into the match. Trevecca's got a solid team, and they have a lot of players that I like."
After starting the year off 1-14, the Panthers finished the second half of the season on an 8-5 run, including a stretch of five consecutive victories.
Nikki Jenkins,
Autumn Harris,
Elizabeth Gober, and
Gabrielle Gallois have converted on at least 150 kills on the season. Jenkins leads the team with 289. Sarah Sweson has tallied 468 assists,
Nicole Venema has registered 350 digs, and
Gabrielle Gallois leads the Panthers with 61 blocks, 47 of which were block assists. The Panthers are averaging over 10 kills per set throughout matches this season.
Despite losing all six sets to the Trojans this year, Hagan still feels confident in his system and stressed the importance of executing and finishing points. "There's not much changing to the system that we run. Right now it is all about execution. We have got to be able to consistently block and put the ball away. The girls know what is at stake here. It all comes down to this, and we have to win to keep our season going. We'll see what happens, but hopefully we can come out re-focused and give a great effort."
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