Volleyball Team Ranked 20 in Nation

After the first three weeks of the season the Shawnee Lady Saints Volleyball team has posted a 12-6 record. The 12-6 record was good enough for the Lady Saint to be ranked 20th in the Nation in the first NJCAA poll released this week. Although the 12-6 record is not in itself impressive, five of the six losses have come at the hands of teams ranked in the top eight and the other, to a four year college. The reason for most of the early success of the volleyball team has to be attributed to the play of sophomores Vanessa Beyers who is ranked 8th in the nation with 3.9 kills per game, LaKeita Jones who leads the nation in blocks at 4.1 per game, and Angie Clark who is 5th in the nation in blocks at 1.7 per game and 20th in the nation in hitting efficiency. Freshman setter Mallory Maschhoff is 19th in the nation in setting at 8.1 assists per game and 20th in the nation in service aces with 8.9 aces per game. Katie Niemczyk sets the defensive tone of the Lady Saints by being ranked 9th in the nation in digs per game at 8.3. Shawnee will play in the Three Rivers Tournament this weekend against five Division I teams from Alabama and Missouri. Their next home game is Tuesday night vs. Rend Lake and McKendree College.