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All-KCAC & NAIA Honors | Weekly
KCAC & NAIA Honors
Predicted for a 4th place finish in the 2006 KCAC race, the Lady Bulldog volleyballers finished the KCAC regular season just as predicted.
After completing its first round of the KCAC rotation, the Bulldogs stood 8-2 and in a tie for third in the conference race. Standing 11-5 overall, after a non-conference loss to Avila University, the Bulldogs split their next four KCAC matches before heading to southern California for Fall Break, with a 13-7 overall mark, to meet nationally ranked and sister college University of LaVerne (#3 NCAA D-III), Biola University (#16 NAIA), D-III Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and LaSierra University, a provisional NCAA D-III school. While the Bulldogs dropped the first three matches of the trip, they came home on a positive note as they concluded the trip with a three-game sweep of LaSierra.
“If our program is going to continue its climb up the KCAC and NAIA ladder, we need to play competition that is a level above us,” said Nathalea Stephenson, McPherson head coach. “The girls need to see what it takes to play at that level.”
“Plus, making a trip like this every three or four years is a great reward for the work our young ladies put forward in representing McPherson College in the best possible light.”
McPherson went 4-1 in the final two weeks of the regular season to enter the KCAC tournament with a 17-11 overall record, 13-5 and fourth place in the KCAC.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated Ottawa in the first round of the conference tournament, marking the fourth straight season with 18 or more wins. In the semifinals, the Bulldogs fell to regular season and eventual tournament champion Tabor. Despite that loss, McPherson qualified for the NAIA Region IV tournament for the second straight year.
Entering Region IV play, the Lady Bulldogs had already set a school record for the best four-year span of volleyball is school history as the Bulldogs had won 73 matches, bettering the previous best four-year best of 69 wins between 1983 and 1986.
Four Lady Bulldogs received All-KCAC post-season honors. Kendra Stephenson and Jessica Miller were named to the first team while Jenny Marquette and Nikki Mackay were second team picks.
