Northwest Missouri State volleyball splits weekend series, dealing with injuries
Sep. 15—No. 13 Northwest Missouri State volleyball split their weekend series when they lost in Warrensburg, Missouri, to the then No. 19 Central Missouri Jennies in five sets, and swept the Missouri Western Griffons in three sets in their home opener.
The team is dealing with injuries as the season is progressing, more specifically a recent injury to sophomore Payton Kirchhoefer. She's been a pivotal piece to the Bearcats, but head coach Amy Woerth knows the talent among her athletes.
This injury has required Woerth to move some players on the outside, where she's trying to find consistency.
"We want three or four kills per set from someone," Woerth said. "One of them needs to be in the twos and one needs to be in the threes, that would be very helpful for us. us. Right now, we're not in system as much as we like, so we're having to throw it to the outside quite a bit more than we like to."
One athlete being thrown into the rotation is outside hitter and graduate student Kelly Wiedemann. Wiedemann competed at Missouri State West Plains where she racked up 519 kills, 443 digs, 61 blocks and a .250 hitting percentage.
"I'm getting put into positions that need to be filled and just trying to fill those roles to the best of my ability," Wiedemann said. "I'm pretty used to being a go to on my previous team, but like I said, I am new. Just being able to fill those to the best of my ability and do whatever we need to do in order to get the win."
Against the Jennies, UCM won by set scores of 25-19, 25-14, 10-25, 20-25 and 15-10. Northwest had four players reach double figures in kills. Kelly Wiedemann, Olivia Dir and Jaden Ferguson each notched 14 kills while Avery Kemp added 11.
In their home opener, the Bearcats picked up its first MIAA victory of the season. They won by set scores of 25-22, 28-26 and 25-14. Junior Jaden Ferguson pounded down a match-high 14 kills as she hit .464 with only one attack error in 28 swings.
Competing against a top-25 team and then turning around to face a rival will reveal a lot about a team. The Bearcats also haven't had a full week to dedicate to practice, revealing the kind of strength among this team.
"We have some push in us, we have some grit in us from the standpoint of pushing through some injuries, pushing through not having Payton is a big deal and she is our go to," Woerth said. "I think our defense and our ball control obviously needs to get better just from the standpoint of improvement."
Despite the injuries among the team and players having to move positions, the leadership still rings through the Bearcat squad.
"I don't think our leadership has really changed at all, we're very group led. Everyone has their own leadership role, whether it's vocal or lead by example," Wiedemann said. "Having Payton now is obviously not ideal, but in the end other people are able to step up and fill that role pretty well."
The Bearcats will be in Kansas on Sept. 16 to take on Emporia State and Sept. 17 against Washburn. The Ichabods are ranked second in the country and present a new look on the hardwood with 12 new freshmen and 13 new players.
"We tend to play the way they're playing, and let them dictate the match based on their inconsistencies, it's going to hurt us," Woerth said. "We got to play our style of volleyball and the way that we know we can play."
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
