Columbia avenges loss to Dordt
Missouri netters hand Defenders second setback in pool play
By Steve Allspach sallspach@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Thursday, December 04, 2008
Dordt is on the brink of elimination, but don't count on the Defenders from going quietly into that cold 2008 NAIA national volleyball tournament night.
Fifth-ranked Columbia (Mo.), rallying from a 22-16 deficit in the first set, came back to win a pool play clash Wednesday morning at the Tyson Events Center in four sets.
Columbia took nine of the last 10 points to win that set 25-23, but it was the only set contested in regulation.
The American Midwest Conference champs held off the feisty Defenders 28-26 in an extended second duel. Dordt exhibited its mettle in another long third set, winning 26-24, before Columbia's All-America candidate Flavia Lino delivered the kill that decided a 27-25 struggle in the fourth set.
Columbia improved to 41-3 overall and 2-0 in pool play. Dordt's third-place Great Plains Athletic Conference club slipped to 32-9 and 0-2 in pool play.
"Columbia's setter (Luana Branco) is absolutely outstanding,'' said Dordt Coach Tom Van Den Bosch. "She can distribute the ball everywhere and just never allows their team to get out of system.
"It may have been a different story had we won that first set, but losing the way we did really took us out of it emotionally as a well as physically.
"We had some opportunities, but with so many young players maybe we didn't react under the pressure as an experienced team might have.''
The Columbia win avenged a 3-1 loss to the Defenders in late September.
Columbia's two brilliant Brazilians, the 6-1 Flavia and the 5-11 Branco, again showed why they're a dynamic duo.
Flavia, a transfer who played last season at Division I Kansas University of the Big 12, finished the match with a whopping 27 kills.
Branco, a senior and two-time first-team All-America setter, handed out an astounding 54 assists.
Juliana Da Silva, another Brazilian, registered eight kills for Columbia, and 6-1 Maria Omondi, who hails from Nairobi, Kenya, drilled nine.
Kristin De Ronde, a 6-1 middle from Oskaloosa (Pella Christian High School), led Dordt with 15 kills.
"We're going out there in the third pool match playing just as hard as ever,'' said De Ronde, the lone senior on the Dordt roster. "You can't get it back, but if we'd have won that first set, you never know.
"We had so much energy the entire match. We never thought we weren't going to win.''
The Defenders are ranked 16th and now face the challenge of winning today's final pool play match to retain any hope of advancing to the single-elimination round of 12 that begins Friday.
The top two teams in each of the six four-team pool qualify for the single-elimination portion of the competition.
Dordt will meet the 20th-ranked University of Mobile at 11 a.m. The Alabama school has reached the national tourney twice, going 1-2 in pool play last year. The Rams, 33-5, lost in four sets to Columbia Tuesday and were swept Wednesday by Azusa Pacific.
"Certainly, we have to beat Mobile and we'd need an upset to advance,'' said Van Den Bosch. "But, no matter what happens, we've had total effort in both of our matches.
"We could have thrown in the towel a couple of times, but we came back with rallies against Columbia.''
The Defenders had three big hitters in the match. Along with De Ronde's 15 kills, 6-1 sophomore Kendra Potgeter had 14 and Kelsey Van Dyke 13. Cassie Huizenga (24) and Jessica De Stigter (23) paced Dordt in the assist department and Dorinda Hibma had 39 digs cleaning up Columbia's powerful hitters.
"No. 14 (Potgeter) is one heckuva an athlete,'' said Columbia Coach Melinda Wrye-Washington. "We really don't match up very well with Dordt so it becomes kind of a cat-and-mouse with the coaches.
"Coach Van Den Bosch did a great job making adjustments.''
Fifth-ranked Columbia (Mo.), rallying from a 22-16 deficit in the first set, came back to win a pool play clash Wednesday morning at the Tyson Events Center in four sets.
Columbia took nine of the last 10 points to win that set 25-23, but it was the only set contested in regulation.
The American Midwest Conference champs held off the feisty Defenders 28-26 in an extended second duel. Dordt exhibited its mettle in another long third set, winning 26-24, before Columbia's All-America candidate Flavia Lino delivered the kill that decided a 27-25 struggle in the fourth set.
Columbia improved to 41-3 overall and 2-0 in pool play. Dordt's third-place Great Plains Athletic Conference club slipped to 32-9 and 0-2 in pool play.
"Columbia's setter (Luana Branco) is absolutely outstanding,'' said Dordt Coach Tom Van Den Bosch. "She can distribute the ball everywhere and just never allows their team to get out of system.
"It may have been a different story had we won that first set, but losing the way we did really took us out of it emotionally as a well as physically.
"We had some opportunities, but with so many young players maybe we didn't react under the pressure as an experienced team might have.''
The Columbia win avenged a 3-1 loss to the Defenders in late September.
Columbia's two brilliant Brazilians, the 6-1 Flavia and the 5-11 Branco, again showed why they're a dynamic duo.
Flavia, a transfer who played last season at Division I Kansas University of the Big 12, finished the match with a whopping 27 kills.
Branco, a senior and two-time first-team All-America setter, handed out an astounding 54 assists.
Juliana Da Silva, another Brazilian, registered eight kills for Columbia, and 6-1 Maria Omondi, who hails from Nairobi, Kenya, drilled nine.
Kristin De Ronde, a 6-1 middle from Oskaloosa (Pella Christian High School), led Dordt with 15 kills.
"We're going out there in the third pool match playing just as hard as ever,'' said De Ronde, the lone senior on the Dordt roster. "You can't get it back, but if we'd have won that first set, you never know.
"We had so much energy the entire match. We never thought we weren't going to win.''
The Defenders are ranked 16th and now face the challenge of winning today's final pool play match to retain any hope of advancing to the single-elimination round of 12 that begins Friday.
The top two teams in each of the six four-team pool qualify for the single-elimination portion of the competition.
Dordt will meet the 20th-ranked University of Mobile at 11 a.m. The Alabama school has reached the national tourney twice, going 1-2 in pool play last year. The Rams, 33-5, lost in four sets to Columbia Tuesday and were swept Wednesday by Azusa Pacific.
"Certainly, we have to beat Mobile and we'd need an upset to advance,'' said Van Den Bosch. "But, no matter what happens, we've had total effort in both of our matches.
"We could have thrown in the towel a couple of times, but we came back with rallies against Columbia.''
The Defenders had three big hitters in the match. Along with De Ronde's 15 kills, 6-1 sophomore Kendra Potgeter had 14 and Kelsey Van Dyke 13. Cassie Huizenga (24) and Jessica De Stigter (23) paced Dordt in the assist department and Dorinda Hibma had 39 digs cleaning up Columbia's powerful hitters.
"No. 14 (Potgeter) is one heckuva an athlete,'' said Columbia Coach Melinda Wrye-Washington. "We really don't match up very well with Dordt so it becomes kind of a cat-and-mouse with the coaches.
"Coach Van Den Bosch did a great job making adjustments.''
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