Friday Notebook: Keck Fuels 'Dogs
*Ben Yarnell*
The Bulldog volleyball team’s season might have ended, but that does not mean there wasn’t a perfect 10 effort on the floor from Number 10.
Sophomore Melissa Keck was a force to be reckoned with Friday, as she set a career high for kills, coming in with 15 against the University of Northern Alabama Lions.
Her showing on the court brought the sophomore to 280 kills in her career. Coming into the night’s match, Keck averaged 2.91 kills per game. However, she averaged 3.75 kills in each of the five games. When compared with the rest of the squad, Keck had just less than 20 percent of all the team’s kills.
Keck was especially instrumental for the ‘Dogs in the clutch. Several times during the match, most notably during games 1 and 2, Keck came in with key kills. Almost every kill she had came when Truman was within no more than four points of the Lions. The highlight of Keck’s performance was Game 1, when she came up big with 6 kills, helping push the team past the Lions by a score of 30-27.
That dependability was the reason the Bulldogs ended up 20-2 in games that finished with a margin of less than 3 points. UNA head coach Stephanie Radecki said her team was knew how strong Truman’s team could be when a game comes down to the wire.
“We know that Truman’s the kind of team that, once they get above 25 points, they are going to push to win the game,” Radecki said. “I think the biggest thing was just making the team aware of that and doing the exact same thing.”
“We did look sharp at times, but UNA just kept it going,” Bulldog head coach Jason Skoch said. “I’d like to think that we were as good of a team as them. They just had more intensity, and once they caught wind of that momentum, they played at a different level.”
Along with their intensity and momentum, the Lions also had strategy to take on players like Keck.
“We really went for their corners,” said UNA senior setter Laura Bellinger.
“(Truman’s) middle back was really trying to read us, so we just went there.”
Unfortunately, the season ended earlier than Keck and the Bulldog team had hoped.
“I think we all hoped for a little bigger reward than what happened,” said senior outside hitter Kelsey Wackerman. “It was just a bad way to have to quit.”
The Bulldog volleyball team’s season might have ended, but that does not mean there wasn’t a perfect 10 effort on the floor from Number 10.
Sophomore Melissa Keck was a force to be reckoned with Friday, as she set a career high for kills, coming in with 15 against the University of Northern Alabama Lions.
Her showing on the court brought the sophomore to 280 kills in her career. Coming into the night’s match, Keck averaged 2.91 kills per game. However, she averaged 3.75 kills in each of the five games. When compared with the rest of the squad, Keck had just less than 20 percent of all the team’s kills.
Keck was especially instrumental for the ‘Dogs in the clutch. Several times during the match, most notably during games 1 and 2, Keck came in with key kills. Almost every kill she had came when Truman was within no more than four points of the Lions. The highlight of Keck’s performance was Game 1, when she came up big with 6 kills, helping push the team past the Lions by a score of 30-27.
That dependability was the reason the Bulldogs ended up 20-2 in games that finished with a margin of less than 3 points. UNA head coach Stephanie Radecki said her team was knew how strong Truman’s team could be when a game comes down to the wire.
“We know that Truman’s the kind of team that, once they get above 25 points, they are going to push to win the game,” Radecki said. “I think the biggest thing was just making the team aware of that and doing the exact same thing.”
“We did look sharp at times, but UNA just kept it going,” Bulldog head coach Jason Skoch said. “I’d like to think that we were as good of a team as them. They just had more intensity, and once they caught wind of that momentum, they played at a different level.”
Along with their intensity and momentum, the Lions also had strategy to take on players like Keck.
“We really went for their corners,” said UNA senior setter Laura Bellinger.
“(Truman’s) middle back was really trying to read us, so we just went there.”
Unfortunately, the season ended earlier than Keck and the Bulldog team had hoped.
“I think we all hoped for a little bigger reward than what happened,” said senior outside hitter Kelsey Wackerman. “It was just a bad way to have to quit.”
posted by Conor Nicholl at Friday, November 10, 2006
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