Septembre Russell
Copy editor
For the last two weekends, the ’Cats lit a flame that four teams failed to extinguish. Linfield volleyball succeeded two more of its opponents for the second weekend in a row, with wins against George Fox University on Oct. 31 and Pacific University on Nov. 1.
Against the Bruins, the sets were divided three to one, scoring 25-14, 25-13, 17-25 and 25-13. The ’Cats won against the Boxers in five sets with scores of 25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 16-25
and 15-10.
Service from the ’Cats was impeccable Oct. 31. Freshman outside hitter Tara Hill’s service of 13 consecutive points highlighted GFU’s struggle to return a serve in the beginning set. Freshman outside hitter
Samantha Lau and senior libero Meghan Flink aced three points apiece, while Hill and senior defensive specialist Hannah Veley made one and two, respectively. Junior middle blocker Emily Vuylsteke slammed down 13 kills, and Lau achieved 12.
Attacking errors plagued George Fox during the entire match.
In each set except for the third, the Bruins committed more attacking errors than the ’Cats, who stayed below eight errors per set for the duration of the game.
George Fox attempted to reassert itself in the third set. Bruins juniors outside
hitter Jennifer Panico and right side hitter Lyndsay Hovee and senior middle blockers Natalie Pickett and Jessica Morrison each attained half of their overall attacks in the set. Junior right side hitter Sarah Crossfield headed the team with 10 kills, and Hovee
contributed nine.
Senior defensive specialist Racheal Rahn had 24 defensive digs, and Flink tagged on 14.
Junior setter Stephanie Purser set 53 assists that led to double-digit kills. Hill tallied 17 kills in the game against the Boxers, followed by 16 from senior middle blocker Kelsey Habura and 11 from Vuylsteke.
Boxers senior outside hitters Caitlin Gollehon’s 20 kills and Melissa Dunns’ 16 were insufficient in overpowering Linfield’s defensive dexterity and the majority of the ’Cats ended the game with double-digit digs. Purser claimed eight digs in conjunction with her two kills.
The competition during last weekend included the Wildcats’ senior game Oct. 31. Wildcat seniors include Flink, Veley, Habura, Rahn as well as outside hitter Kelsey French.
Habura has played volleyball for eight years. She said playing college sports can be beneficial to a college career.
“You get a really close group of friends, and you’re with them all the time,” she said. “It teaches you a lot of things and builds friendships and relationships.”
Habura said it was sad playing her last game in the Ted Wilson Gymnasium, but it was fun because they played so well in their last home game.
Wildcat volleyball is ranked number four in the Northwestern Conference.
“We were tied with [other teams] before, but now we’re by ourselves,” Habura said.
Although the Wildcats will lose five players, team dynamics will not break down as confidence in the team’s returners remains.
Longtime head coach Shane Kimura said the program was anticipating this year’s freshman class to step up and fill the void left by the graduating seniors. Lau, who as a freshman earned the team’s second highest kill total, will likely play a vital role in the transition.
“We feel pretty good about our incoming freshman class and the fact they’re pretty young,” he said. “I think it gives us a good nucleus of players to build around next season.”