Eagles Soar Past Bluejays in Straights

HILLSBORO, Kan. – The Avila volleyball team (12-18, 3-7) put together one of its best performances in KCAC competition thus far this season on Tuesday night in Hillsboro, thoroughly shutting down the Tabor offense and taking care of the Bluejays (3-20, 1-9 KCAC) in straight sets.

It was a critical win for the Eagles with the regular season winding down: Avila has only two more KCAC matches to play and, even though Avila was already likely to be one of the 12 teams to qualify for the 2022 KCAC Tournament, Tuesday's win makes the Eagles' case a whole lot stronger, and it also keeps them in the hunt to host a first round postseason game in a few weeks' time.

It's no secret that Tabor has struggled this season with a thinner roster than normal under a first-year coach, evidenced by the Bluejays' 3-20 overall record, but this was still one of the better performances the Eagles have had in the last few weeks. Avila forced Tabor into a team hitting percentage of negative .028 (more errors than kills) while Avila hit a flat .200 as a team: the Eagles are now 7-2 this season when hitting at least .200 in a match.

Tuesday's first set was Tabor's best: after Avila started out up 6-1 the Bluejays ultimately rallied to as close as 13-12. But two service aces from Chase Kallevig helped spark a 5-0 Eagle run, and the visitors stayed in control from that point forward: Chelsea Schatzer was credited with a solo block to wrap up the first set with a 25-19 Avila win.

Errors doomed the Bluejays in the early going of set two and helped Avila string together an 11-2 run with Chloe Brundick and Kallevig at the line. Tabor led 2-1 but never led again; more Tabor errors helped Avila to a 7-1 run with Kallevig once again at the line, before a Shay Karmazyn kill gave the Eagles set point, which they converted on their first try to win the set 25-14.

And the Eagles were in control from the get-go in set three. D'Ovion Williams started the set with a stuff, springing a 5-0 run out of the gate, and Avila never looked back: the closest Tabor got in the set was within three points. Leading 12-7, Avila won 10 of the next 12 points with, unsurprisingly, Brundick and Kallevig doing the serving. With the Eagles two points from the match, Trisha Duffy stepped up to the service line, and two more Bluejay errors gifted the Eagles a 25-11 victory and a straight sets road win.

Karmazyn led the Eagles and tied for the match lead with nine kills on .240 hitting in her return to Hillsboro, while Williams had six kills on .286 hitting. No one else had to be spectacular for the Eagles in a solid team win: four other players had either two or three kills. Abigail Blake led all players with a round 15 digs.

Avila volleyball will be busy to close out this week as the Eagles move into the home stretch of the season. Up next is a home date with Health Sciences this Friday, October 28 in Mabee Fieldhouse before conference play resumes on Saturday evening against York. Varsity reserve gets the action started Friday at 2 PM with varsity to follow at 4; as always, admission is priced at $8 per person, and you can watch all the action on the Avila Sports Network.