Jennings Mouw block Oct. 10, 2008

Central drops two in Border Battle

ST. PAUL, MINN.—Central College dropped a pair of volleyball matches to nationally ranked foes Friday but a young lineup went down swinging. The Dutch were competing in the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle which matches the top four finishers from the 2007 Iowa Conference and Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference races. Playing at the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), Central (9-11) fell to No. 14-rated Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) 25-18, 25-21, 25-18.  The College of St. Benedict (Minn.), tied for No. 21 in the rankings, then outlasted the Dutch 25-21, 27-29, 25-19, 13-25, 15-12. Concordia improved to 16-2 while St. Benedict is 21-3.  

Coach Kent Clayberg liked his team’s effort.

“We played better than the scores showed against Concordia,” he said. “The pace was absolutely frenetic and we just kind of lost it at the end.”

He said the Dutch were evenly matched with St. Ben’s.

“We really battled well,” he said. “We had a lot of people tell us afterwards what a great match it was.”

Clayberg inserted some younger players in the lineup and liked the results. Freshman Maggie Snyder (Alexandria, Minn., Jefferson HS) drew her first starting assignment as setter.

“She had her share of nerves, making her first start,” Clayberg said. “But she settled down and was very bold and aggressive. She did a nice job.”

Three freshmen came off the bench: outside hitter Caitlin Kouba (Dubuque, Wahlert HS), middle hitter Haley Brillhart (Pella) and right-side hitter Amy Golly (freshman, Ankeny).

“At one point I looked up and we had three freshmen in the front row,” Clayberg said. “They made some errors but they were active and energetic.

“Kaitlin got some good hard swings, Haley had several nice blocks and Amy Golly gave a good solid effort on the right side.

“They didn’t come in and just take over the match but they held their own.”

Clayberg also cited outside hitter Miranda Kouba (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert HS) and libero Maggie Nowicki (senior, Madison, Wis., Edgewood HS), as well as Megan Callahan (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert HS), who saw some action as setter as well as in the back row in an unaccustomed reserve role.

“Megan handled it really well,” Clayberg said. “She came in and did a nice job. She played good defense and she served well. I was proud of her.”

Central meets Bethel University (Minn.) Saturday at 11 a.m. and the tourney host, the No. 5-ranked Univ. of St. Thomas (Minn.) at 3 p.m.  Bethel, coached by 1997 Central graduate Gretchen (Hansen) Hunt, defeated the Dutch in the season opener at Whitewater, Wis. Aug. 29,  21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-21.

Central and St. Thomas clashed in St. Paul last year in the second round of the NCAA Division III tourney with the Tommies escaping 35-37, 30-21, 30-25, 16-30, 15-10.