Doane advances in NAIA volleyball tournament

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BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

CRETE — The NAIA selection committee gave the Doane volleyball team new life last Sunday by giving the Tigers the final spot in the national tournament.

The No. 22 Tigers made the most of their unexpected opportunity by defeating Bethel College 25-17, 23-25, 25-8, 25-15 Saturday night in an opening-round match before a crowd of 1,100 at Fuhrer Fieldhouse.

The win makes Doane one of the 24 teams that will begin pool play Dec. 2 at the five-day NAIA Volleyball National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa.

The last time the Tigers (27-8) headed to that part of Iowa, they lost to Northwestern in the semifinals of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament on Nov. 12, a setback that coach Cindy Meyer thought ended the Tigers’ season.

“We’ve missed out (on a national bid) a couple times in the past when we continued to practice, holding out hope we’d get in,” said Meyer, who picked up her 550th career coaching win Saturday. “I decided to do it differently this year. We said our good-byes last Wednesday (Nov. 12), thinking there was no way we’d get in. Percentages must’ve been with us.”

Seniors Chelsee Marvin and Ashley Sluka, who were members of the last Tiger team to go to nationals in 2005, took full advantage of their extended college careers. Marvin, a 6-foot middle blocker from Crete, pounded 11 kills and served six aces, part of a strong Doane service game that produced nine aces.

Sluka, a setter from Exeter-Milligan, had 22 assists in Doane’s 6-2 attack, which also features sophomore Heather Davison. The former Lincoln North Star standout finished with 14 assists and 20 digs.

“Last Thursday and Friday, I thought I was done with athletics for good,’’ Sluka said. “It was amazing Sunday, finding out we were in the tournament and then coming back for practice Monday. We weren’t going to practice all week and then not get to Sioux City.”

Doane’s outside hitters Jessy Livers (another ex-North Star standout) and Terra Andreasen (a freshman from Bellevue East) combined for 27 kills to lead the Doane attack. Livers, a junior, had seven of her 12 kills in the first set, including a sharply angled cross-court shot that finished off set point.

A third former Navigator, sophomore Nicole Skolnick, had 14 digs as a defensive specialist. Junior all-conference libero Emily Schwisow, a Beatrice graduate, led the Doane back-row play with 21 digs.

Andreasen blasted seven of her kills in sets 3 and 4, both of which Doane dominated. The Tigers sprinted to a 16-4 lead in the third set and then built a 19-9 edge in the final set by going on a 10-2 run.

Doane saw a 21-18 lead slip away in the second set. With the score tied at 22, two straight unforced errors put Bethel (23-10) at set point. A Livers ace block made it 24-23, but Bethel closed it out with a left-side kill by Christy Weems.

“We have a tendency to let up and allow teams back in it in the second set,’’ Marvin said. “We had to step it up and play as a team, and we did that in the final two (sets).”

Mallory Haedt’s 12 kills paced the Threshers, the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season and postseason champions. Former Heartland all-stater Morgan Peters had 14 assists and a kill for Bethel, while senior Tri County graduate Kari Thimm had six kills and an ace block.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.