Mustangs unable to upset the Broncos on the road in women’s volleyball action.

HASTINGS, NEB. – Morningside women’s volleyball hit the road Saturday with hopes of upsetting third seed Hastings College in the GPAC Conference Tournament.  The Mustangs weren’t up to the task, falling 3-0 to the Broncos, 25-13, 25-16, and 25-20.

Morningside had 28 kills in 108 attack spread out over the three-set match, led by sophomore Krista Zenk with 12.  Emma Gerber, a junior from Worthington, Minn., had eight more.

“I thought Krista did a really good job on the outside, tooling the block.  We knew that they had some line open, and she did a really good job doing what we asked her to do,” analyzed head coach Beth Donnelly after the match.  “Gerber, offensively, she’s always there for us. Britt does a really good job putting up a block. I think Merrin played some pretty good defense tonight.”

The Mustangs had solo blocks from Zenk and junior Brittni Olson.  Olson, Zenk, and Gerber tacked on block assists to bring the team to five total blocks in the match.  

Freshman libero Kayla Harris led the Mustangs with eight digs, followed by sophomore Ashley Boer, who contributed seven.  Zenk had six, junior setter Callie Alberico had five, Gerber, sophomore Merrin Van Velzen, and freshman Sabrina Creason each had three.

Alberico had 18 of the Mustangs’ 26 assists in the match.  Creason had seven.

“We played a lot better in the third set, for the first half, but they had too many offensive weapons and we were not making good adjustments defensively,” remarked Donnelly.  “Communication was better. I talked to the girls about what we do in practice needs to transfer over to the match.”

The Mustangs will have some time to regroup, with their next match not coming until pool play gets underway at the NAIA National Tournament, beginning November 27 at the Tyson Events Center.