MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Nazarene University women’s volleyball team kept its winning streak alive in its first home match of the year Tuesday night. The Cougars played nationally ranked Capital University, and won in four games with scores of 30-28, 30-27, 17-30 and 30-24.

“It was a great match, and we expected that from Capital,” said head coach Paul Swanson. “They are ranked 16th in the nation for NCAA, so it’s no wonder that they are an excellent team. We had two good teams playing one another, and we had two great players in Shena Beheler and [Capital’s] Jesse Hampton going at one another. Both girls are All Americans so it was neat to see the mini-war within the big war.”

With the win, MVNU (5-0) head coach Paul Swanson earned his 800th win as a Cougar coach. His career record of 815-297, including an 800-282 mark with the Cougars since 1984, makes him the NAIA’s all-time win leader. Swanson also coached one season at Waynesburg College, posting a 15-15 record.

In the first game, MVNU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and then extended it to 14-7 as senior middle hitter Shena Beheler smashed four kills during the surge. After the visiting Crusaders (2-3), who are ranked 16th in the NCAA Division III preseason poll, closed to within 28-27, a kill each by sophomore outside hitter Courtney Springer and junior outside hitter Audrey Hickinbotham sandwiched around a sideout by Capital gave the Cougars a 30-28 victory.

MVNU took a quick 3-0 lead to start the second game only to watch as the Crusaders rallied for a 6-5 advantage of their own. The game went back and forth with Capital still clinging to a 27-26 lead when a kill by freshman middle hitter Jackie Albrecht, a block by Hickinbotham and Albrecht, and a kill by Hickinbotham gave the Cougars a dramatic 30-27 win.

Trailing 2-0 in games, the Crusaders did not give in, though. They quickly jumped out to a 13-6 lead as they never trailed in the third game. MVNU closed the gap to 14-11 on a kill by Beheler, but Capital ran off 16 of the final 22 points to pull away for the 30-17 victory to force a fourth game.

Things started to get interesting in the fourth game when the Crusaders moved in front 5-1 early on and then 9-5. A pair of kills each by Albrecht and Hickinbotham helped the Cougars take an 11-10 lead, but Capital bounced back to go in front 18-16. At that point, Springer pounded two kills and sophomore middle hitter Stephanie Zollars added a kill to give MVNU a 19-18 advantage.

With the score knotted at 20-20, the Cougars ran off four straight points fueled by a kill from Hickinbotham and a block by Beheler and sophomore setter Kaylin Austen. Following a sideout by the Crusaders, Hickinbotham served MVNU to a 27-21 advantage and the Cougars traded points the rest of the way for a 30-24 victory to take the match.

“We really took advantage of moments tonight,” said Swanson. “In Game 2, we were down by two, then we took advantage of a moment and took off and won the game. We did that in the last game as well, and that’s what it takes. Our players really believe in themselves, and everybody did a great job.”

Beheler led MVNU with 21 kills, nine digs and seven blocks, while Austen handed out a career-high 48 assists to go with three kills, two blocks and nine digs. Hickinbotham smashed 11 kills, and Springer finished with 10 kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Zollars contributed nine kills, while Albrecht tallied four kills and seven blocks. Senior libero Tiffany Milburn also posted 18 digs.

“I was ecstatic. It was a blessing to have so many people here tonight,” said Beheler. “We had great teamwork today. We used everybody, and they all just came together. We’ll just keep getting better hopefully.”

The Cougars will return to play Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with a match against Ursuline College, then with a 1:30 p.m. match against Indiana University-Southeast, during a tri-match at MVNU.

MVNU sports information director Dave Parsons contributed to this story.

SAVE & SHARE [?]

Print Mobile del.icio.us NewsVine Digg Reddit Google Yahoo Facebook Technorati Mixx