Miranda Kouba attack Aug. 30, 2008

Central gains split at Whitewater tourney

WHITEWATER, WIS.—Outside hitters Miranda Kouba (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert HS) and Michelle Ripperger (junior, Urbandale) each had 18 kills as the Central College volleyball team came away with a split of its weekend matches at the Wis.-Whitewater Invitational.

The Dutch blanked Wheaton (Ill.) 25-23, 25-14, 25-21 but were toppled by St. Benedict (Minn.) 23-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-16.

Kouba also had 26 digs on the day. Setter Megan Callahan (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert HS) had 54 assists. Ashley Ellingson (sophomore, West Des Moines, Valley HS) had nine kills in the win over Wheaton. Libero Maggie Nowicki (senior, Madison, Wis., Edgewood HS) had 35 digs in two matches. Defensive specialist Chelsea Grieger (freshman, Pella) came off the bench to record 22 digs against St. Benedict while middle hitter Sara Mouw (junior, Greene, North Butler HS) had eight kills without an error.

“We were kind of flat against St. Benedict,” coach Kent Clayberg said. “We played pretty decent for a while but we just could not get in sync. We got tired. I probably should have done a little more substituting.

“Right now we’re a little hit or miss. But we’ll get smarter and we’ll get sharper.”

Central faces another challenging weekend, traveling to St. Louis, Mo. for the Washington University-St. Louis (Mo.) National Invitational Friday and Saturday. The Dutch will battle No. 24 Cal Lutheran at 3 p.m. Friday before taking on No. 2 Washington-St. Louis (Mo.) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday Central tackles Birmingham Southern (Ala.) at 10 a.m. and No. 11 Ohio Northern at 12:30 p.m.

“This is the kind of pre-conference schedule we want,” Clayberg said. “We’re going to see teams who are not going to let us get away with things.”