Story by MAYAN PAZ Photos by RILEY FRANK
Tiger Media Network
With just six games left to play, the MIAA volleyball regular season is heading to its final stretch. Fort Hays State University (14-8, 3-7) is currently in a three-way tie for the No. 7 spot in the standings with Arkansas-Fort Smith and Pittsburg State. However, FHSU holds the tiebreaker. FHSU is also one game ahead of Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Southern State.
Coming off a 3-0 loss to No. 4 UNK last Saturday, the Tigers will be on the road this weekend to face Newman (2-19, 0-10) on Friday before playing Pitt State (9-11, 3-7) on Saturday.
Junior outside hitter Peyton Bergschneider said she thinks the team is playing well lately, and their goal is to maintain this good form this weekend.
“Despite the loss (against UNK), I do feel like we played really well this past weekend, and moving forward, we know what our strengths are now, some stuff we’ve struggled with earlier in the season, we’re not struggling with now, and I think that we’re keeping that mentality to the rest of the season because we’re not going backwards,” she said. “That’s the most difficult part. I think right now, we are learning how to do stuff that we’ve been struggling with, and we’re just keeping pushing forward.”
On Saturday, FHSU and Pitt State will compete in a direct battle for a spot in the conference tournament, as both teams are hoping to stay within the top eight in the conference. FHSU Head Coach Jessica Wood-Atkins said that despite the high stakes, she and the team do not feel any additional pressure.
“I’m very confident in this team. We talked about running the game plan pretty early on, and I think playing some really good teams lately was a really good preparation for us, and I feel very confident,” she said. “They played very well this weekend. And I think their focus is on our game, not anybody else’s. And so, no, I don’t feel additional pressure.”
This weekend will present another challenge for the Tigers, as they will play back-to-back games in two different towns. Wood-Atkins said that even though it’s not easy, it is better than some back-to-back trips the team had in the past, such as their trip to Central Oklahoma and Arkansas-Fort Smith at this time last year.
“Plus, the match on Saturday, because of football, got moved to 6 p.m, and so that gives us the ability to stay in our more typical routine. We will leave after the game (Friday), and then the next day, we’ll get up, we’ll have breakfast, we’ll have study tables, and then we’ll travel again,” Wood-Atkins said. “So we’re used to this routine. If it were a 1 p.m. game, that’d be a different story. But both of the games are 6 p.m. games, and so I think we can use the same routine, and that’ll be just fine.”
These will be the last road games for the Tigers this season before playing their final four regular-season games at home.