WINFIELD, Kan. – The Southwestern College volleyball team returned home for what was the first of what will be four straight matches inside Stewart Field House for the squad. In tonight's Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) iteration against the Bluejays of Tabor College, Southwestern controlled every aspect of the match from the opening serve, coming out with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 triumph over the visiting squad on Wednesday.

In stark contrast to the way that several of the Builders' matches have been going lately, the team was able to attack at an astonishing rate in the battle, as evidenced by their stellar .294 clip in the opening set of play. The 13 kills that they tallied on 34 swings was a heavily impressive feat, while only committing a measly three errors. They also stopped the Bluejays attackers from getting anything going, as they hit at just .079 for the stanza. It ended up being a simple 25-16 triumph for the SC squad in the first set.

Things were not much different in the second period of play, as Tabor attacked at a nearly identical .081 clip. Southwestern would counter with a .222 showing, and would only commit three errors again. Tabor made a total of 10 attacking miscues in the second set to go with their seven from the first. The efficiency for Southwestern led to another set win, this time at 25-19.

It was more of the same in the final set, as the Builders carried themselves at a high level, notching 12 kills and just five errors in the last stanza. Tabor had an untoward -.007 attacking percentage at the conclusion of the set, have put away eight swings but committing 11 errors to bring their match total to 28. The 25-17 win for SC was highlighted by the fact that they attacked at .217 for the match, which was their highest rated showing of the year on that front.

Cierra Harrison had a coming out party on Wednesday, converting kills on 10 of her 23 total attempts in the matchup, while only having three miscues to her name. Daci Stover was second on the squad with seven putaways, and Brianna Ede had six kills on 15 tries. Ede also led the squad with a .400 attacking percentage.

As usual, Sierra Norlin and Maela Stevens split assist duties with success, as they combined to dish out 28 of the 32 total assists for SC in the match. Norlin picked up 15 dimes, while Stevens added 13 of her own.

Defensively, Sophia Wicker led the team in pickups again. She dug out 13 Tabor attacks, while Hannah Weber tallied 11 and Harrison grabbed 10 to secure herself a double-double. Norlin had eight digs as well, rounding out the list of Builders with more than five digs.

The block was of high importance tonight, as well, as it was the squad's best performance in that regard this season by far. The team tallied a total of 16 block assists and one solo block in the tilt, as Jayda Brittenum was a force in the middle with six assisted blocks and the lone solo stop. KaSandra Lyons also played a vital role with five block assists, followed up by Ede and Weber with two, and lastly Stover with one.

As the schedule has flipped into the month of October, the Builders (5-10, 1-3 KCAC) have their eyes set on making noise throughout the remainder of the conference slate in 2022. They continue their current four-match homestand with a battle against Bethany College on Saturday, October 8 at 1 p.m. inside Stewart Field House.

--buildersports.com--