On Thursday the Mustangs extended their win streak to eightgames. The Mustangs downed visiting Tulsa three games to one. Thevictory kept the Ponies perfect in conference play this season at5-0.
The Ponies came out gunning from the start. Sophomore setterJessica Mihm continues to set the pace in the frontcourt. In thefirst game Mihm recorded 12 assists and added five defensive digsto her stat sheet. Junior outside hitter Jacky Niederstadt recordedsix kills to lead the Pony offense. Multiple hitting errors onTulsa’s side gave the Mustangs plenty of scoringopportunities. The first game ended in a convincing 30-19victory.
A lack of concentration and poor hitting on the Mustang’sside was all Tulsa needed to climb back in the second game. ThePony offense struggled to find a rhythm throughout the match andended up losing the second game 30-25. The loss ended theMustangs’ consecutive game win streak at 14.
Sophomore middle blocker Kelly Larkan blamed a lack ofconcentration for the second game loss.
“In the second game we just ended up beatingourselves,” Larkan said. “We came in confident that ifwe played well we could easily win. We just didn’t keep ourfocus.”
One of the reasons the Ponies had trouble keeping focused wasTulsa’s different style of play. Head coach Lisa Seifert feltthe team should have performed better during the match.
“I’m not really happy with how we played,”Seifert said. “That second game proved that if we don’tfocus, we can drop a game. We had a complete lack offocus.”
Coach Seifert must have relayed the message to her players.Early in the third game, the lead changed six times. Then thePonies went on an offensive run that ended at 18-11 and forced theGolden Hurricane to call a timeout. The third game outburst waslead by senior outside hitter Allison Holder. Holder tallied sixkills, hitting .500 percent from the net. Niederstadt continued toperform in the Mustang backcourt. Her defensive efforts included ateam-high seven defensive digs in the game. The slowly pulled awayand finished the Golden Hurricane 30-21 to take a 2-1 lead in thematch.
“When we finally started to delay at the net and wait toblock, good things started to happen,” Seifert said.”The back line started to cover the shots that came in andmake plays.”
The Mustangs saved the best for last. In the fourth game, thePonies hit from all marks. The front line dominated the net, andthe back line played intelligently in the backcourt.
Sophomore middle blocker Ashley Zener lead the knockout punchwith a game-high five kills and a .714 hitting percentage. The restof the Pony offense followed suit. Mihm gathered 16 assists, Larkanlanded four kills and junior outside hitter Beth Karasek picked upsix defensive digs. The Mustangs led by as many as 13 twice in thematch and finished the evening off dropping the Golden Hurricane30-21.
The Mustangs next home game is Saturday at Moody Coliseumagainst conference rival Rice at 4 p.m.
