WICHITA, Kan. – The Southwestern College volleyball team faced another long day on Saturday at the Freddy TRI-Face Off, where they battled two Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) foes in non-conference matchups. Southwestern took care of business in both bouts, earning a tree-set sweep against the Friends University Falcons, and a 3-1 win over the Bethany College Swedes.

Early in the opener against the Falcons, things were looking bleak for SC, as the quickly dug themselves an 8-1 hole in the first set. An impressive show of determination, though, led the Builders to an impressive 30-21 finish to the period. Each team traded points from the 25-24 mark, before Southwestern was finally able to break through. In the end, the Moundbuilders took a 31-29 triumph in the stanza. The two squads were very evenly matched in the first set, as they each committed 10 errors, along with SC earning 16 kills while the Falcons had 17.

In the second, things remained very close, but the fewer number of errors from Southwestern helped lead them to another close win in the middle set. It was a 25-21 victory, as Friends still had more kills than SC in the set (15-12), but the Builders committed just five errors while the Falcons had seven. The attacking clips were similar once again, as Southwestern hit at .163, and the hosts attacked at a .174 clip.

The final set followed the same pattern, as Friends had one more kill than SC (11-10), but also had an extra error. The Builders only carried out five errors again, as they forced six Falcon attacking miscues. Having an attacking percentage below the Friends' clip was not a factor in any of the three sets, as a .102 clip from the home squad and a .098 from Southwestern made it three straight stanzas where the Moundbuilders did not match the Falcon attackers. The set would finish in a 25-22 triumph for the Builders.

Service aces, service errors and set errors really made the difference for SC in the opener, as they converted on five aces, while the Falcons had only two. In regards to service errors, the Moundbuilders had just four, while Friends totaled seven. Finally, the most glaring discrepancy was in set errors, where the hosts were the perpetrators of eight set errors, and Southwestern had just two.

As the squad moved forward to the second battle of the day, they wanted to improve upon their attacking numbers. They did just that, as early on in the match they hit at their top clip of the day to that point. They converted on 14 of their 41 total attacks, hitting at a .195 rate. They also committed only six errors in the set, and held Bethany to just nine kills on 42 tries with four errors (.119). It was an opening-set victory of 25-22 for SC.

Southwestern one-upped themselves in the second set, as they planted 12 kills on just 27 attacks. In the process they only racked up two miscues on the attack. It was easily their best set in terms of efficiency, as they attacked at .370. They also held the Swedes to a pedestrian .094 clip and forced a nine to six kill/error ratio from Bethany. Southwestern handled the Swedes in the stanza, 25-17.

The third set would be the first set that the Builders would drop on Saturday, as it was simply the volume of attacks that put the squad from Lindsborg, Kan. over the top. The Swedes had 52 chances in the set, while SC attacked just 46 times. Bethany had 14 putaways in the set, and committed six errors, but the Builders had just nine kills to three errors committed. It was still a close set, as the Moundbuilders fell just 25-23 in the end.

Then, Southwestern unleashed on offense, yet again, as they spiked down 17 putaways on 51 attacks. The squad was able to attack at .216 in the final stanza, as they only committed six errors in the set. Bethany simply did not have the volume to match the Builders, falling by a final of 25-20 to give SC a three-sets-to-one triumph.

Hannah Weber led the team in kills on the day through the two matches combined, as she tallied 18 total putaways with nine in each battle. The single-match high on Saturday was 10 kills, which was put up by both Daci Stover and Brianna Ede, as they teamed up to help push SC over the edge against Bethany in the second tilt.

Sierra Norlin and Maela Stevens teamed up to make up the majority of the assist numbers, as they split the spoils quite evenly. Norlin put up 16 assists against Friends and 21 against Bethany, while Stevens had 13 against the Falcons and 19 against the Swedes.

Sophia Wicker snagged 57 digs in total on the day, as she had 31 pickups against Friends, and 26 more against the Swedes. Sierra Norlin (Bethany, 15), Hannah Weber (Bethany, 15) and Kinley Williams (Friends, 10) also had double-digit digs in one of the two matches. Ede showed up defensively, as well, racking up a solo block and three assists in the matchup with Bethany.

The Builders (3-5, 0-0 KCAC) are getting closer and closer to the KCAC slate, but still have multiple non-conference battles to be played. On Tuesday, September 13, the Builders will be battling the Eagles of Southwestern Christian University (Okla.) at 7 p.m. inside Stewart Field House, before finishing out the preseason schedule with another triangular. The two battles that SC will be a part of will be against Hannibal-LaGrange University at 12 p.m., and Kansas Wesleyan at 2 p.m. in Salina, Kan. on the KWU campus.

--buildersports.com--