Central suffers first league volleyball setback
Central College
PELLA—Central College peppered Coe College early but the Kohawks responded with an overwhelming offensive charge, dealing the Dutch their first Iowa Conference volleyball loss 13-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 15-8 Tuesday night.
The Dutch (12-4 overall, 3-1 conference) raced to an opening-set victory, scoring 13 straight unanswered points and limiting the Kohawks to a -.02 team hitting percentage.
“We came out fast and hit them early,” coach Kent Clayberg said. “We had them on their heels. But they played like champions. They came back and mixed things up and did a good job over the course of the night getting us out of rhythm.”
Coe (15-1 overall, 1-0 conference) had three players with double-digit terminations. The squad also recorded 10 ace serves.
“We got rattled,” Clayberg said. “The short serving and tipping unsettled our defense which took away the rhythm of our offense. We couldn’t get ourselves back in sync.”
Outside hitter Amy Golly (senior, Ankeny) led the Dutch attack with 11 kills. Outside hitter Caitlin Kouba (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert HS) had nine kills and middle hitter Kiley Meyers (senior, Grundy Center) tallied eight kills, with an efficient .320 hitting percentage.
Setter Maggie Snyder (senior, Alexandria, Minn., Jefferson HS) had 20 assists and freshman Jill Schildroth (setter, Reinbeck, Gladbrook-Reinbeck HS) had 14. Defensively, libero Chelsea Grieger (senior, Pella) posted a match-best 20 digs and Golly had 10.
The Dutch play host to the Central Classic this weekend. Friday Central meets St. Catherine (Minn.) at 4 p.m. and Bethel (Minn.) at 8 p.m. Saturday the Dutch take on league contender Loras at 11 a.m. All matches will be played at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.
“St. Kate’s is good, Bethel is excellent and Loras is a conference rival that we’ve had a hard time with the last couple of years,” Clayberg said. “It will be good competition and it will be nice to be at home for the weekend.”
