Western women's volleyball preps for MIAA Tournament in own backyard
Nov. 13—There's no place like home as Missouri Western women's volleyball will get to stay in St. Joseph and compete amongst the MIAA's best in order to keep its season alive this week.
The Griffons are the No. 4 seed heading into Thursday's MIAA Tournament, drawing the Washburn Ichabods in the first round.
"Getting the fourth seed is a really good start for us," junior Nessa Johnson said.
"Obviously we could have finished better, but it's better than what we were last year and that was our goal is to finish higher than we were and to reach for that tournament title last year."
Last season ended rather abruptly as Western fell to Nebraska Kearney in the first round of the conference tournament. This time looks to be more promising for the Griffons as they improved their win total from 2022 by nine wins.
Second year head coach Jessica Fey wasn't disappointed by the team's play in last year's tournament. However, a year of growth through experience could be the difference for them this time around according to Fey.
"Once school starts and we're playing every weekend, there's really not a lot of time for us to fit a lot of chemistry, team building stuff in. So we just preach relationships a lot," Fey said.
Walking right through the fire was the only option Western has had lately.
The Griffons had to take the brunt of two top-16 teams with losses to both Nebraska Kearney and Central Oklahoma. Despite the two losses, Western can hang its hat on a 2-0 lead against Central Oklahoma before falling in five sets. The loss is being used as a learning tool for the team as they get ready for the competitive tournament.
"Being young and maybe a little bit more inexperienced, just being able to bounce back when things are getting tough was not there for us. So it's a good lesson to have and a good opportunity for growth, but we definitely have to have a little bit more of a fight in us instead of a flight," Fey said.
Missouri Western will be afforded the opportunity to play at the Civic Arena once again for the conference tournament with the Griffon faithful right in their backyard. The convenience of staying in St. Joseph is one they don't take for granted.
"The most comfortable is we don't have to go to a hotel, we get to sleep in our own beds which is really nice. We get to practice in our facilities for most of the week which is very nice," Johnson said.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter @NPNowMeikel.
