Bulldog spikers triumph

Mac College's Stefanie Slinkard and Andrea Gonzales go up for a block Tuesday.

By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor

McPherson College's volleyball team moved past the .500 mark in KCAC play and eclipsed last year's victory total all in the same night.

The Bulldogs defeated Ottawa in four games at the Sport Center Tuesday night and are now 4-3 in the KCAC and 9-5 overall. A year ago, the Bulldogs were 8-19.

"It wasn't a very pretty win, but it was a win," Mac coach Nathalea Stephenson said. "Hopefully we can put things together better for Friday against Central Christian College."

The intra-city rivals meet at 7 p.m. at the Sport Center.

Stephenson said the Bulldogs' first game of the night, a 30-23 victory, actually was their best. "We were moving back and forth and seemed to be talking pretty well," she said.

After Ottawa won the second game 30-24, the Bulldogs came back for 30-21 and 30-28 wins. Mac had to overcome a large deficit in the final game to keep the match from going to the limit.

Here are the stats from the night:

Andrea Gonzales -- 16 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs, 1 solo block. April Stos -- 1 kill. Chandra Mayan -- 1 kill. Erin Pargman -- 4 kills, 3 digs. Erica Alvarez -- 17 kills, 1 ace, 12 digs, 1 assisted block. Lisa Salazar -- 6 kills, 4 aces, 22 digs. Stefanie Slinkard -- 3 kills. Kelsey Hendricks -- 13 assists, 5 digs, 1 kill. Kelsey Crist -- 15 digs. Kendra Stephenson -- 3 kills, 27 assists, 2 aces, 7 digs. Amber Ontiveros -- 8 digs.