Mac spikers take opener

McPherson College's Jennifer Marquette (5) goes high to throw down this spike in the Bulldogs' match here Wednesday.

McPherson College's volleyball team opened the stylish renovated Sport Center in style Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs played as well as the new digs looked, as they swept a dual from Haskell, 30-15, 30-28 and 30-18. The team played before a full house, which coach Nathalea Stephenson said, "The fans really got into the game and they were like having a seventh player on the floor."

Erica Alvarez had 13 kills, while Andrea Gonzales had 8, Erin Pargman added 7 and Nicole McGee furnished 6.

Kendra Stephenson and Kelsey Hendricks had 26 and 14 assists respectively.

"We are going to be very scrappy this year and we picked up a lot of things that we let drop last year," Nathalea Stephenson said. "Several times during the course of play we would shank a ball and someone would keep it in play and we would score off of it with a kill or a stuff block. I was very proud of the girls in how they didn't let down and played together as a unit."

Mac, which at times had four or three freshmen on the court, step up in class this weekend in the Austin College Tournament in Texas.