OLATHE, Kan. – Tuesday evening marked the opening of the 2026 Tabor Volleyball season as the Bluejays made the trip to Olathe to take on a very familiar foe in MidAmerica Nazarene. The two programs have met 17 times in total, with the last three meetings featuring the highly anticipated sibling battle between Tabor Head Coach Adam Brewster and MNU Head Coach Molly Karagyaurov.
MidAmerica Nazarene opened up the first set by scoring the first seven points of the match, outpacing the Bluejays throughout the duration of the set. Annerieke Nederveen’s five assists and Josephine Fuamatu’s two kills helped the Bluejays work to get their offense going. While one might have been able to tell that there were some growing pains in the first set, the Bluejays all but wiped those thoughts away in Set Two.
After starting out Set Two down 4-1, Tabor rattled off six straight points to take their first lead of the night. The entire set saw both teams go back-and-forth, with the Bluejays owning the lead for the majority of the set.
Despite efforts to continue fighting, including a resurgence late in the fourth set, the Pioneers proved to have the Bluejays number in the season opener, winning the match, 3-1 (9-25, 25-22, 14-25, 19-25).
Esther Nederveen and Camila Mendes Toledo made their debut in spectacular fashion, with Nederveen leading all players – regardless of team – in kills with 14, while Mendes Toledo also finished in double-figures, recording 10 kills of her own. Annerieke Nederveen – the other half of the Dutch sibling duo – recorded a monster 30 total assists in the loss, marking the fifth-highest single-game assist total of her Bluejay career.
The Bluejays will regroup and hit the road once again on Friday as they head to Columbia, Mo. to compete in the Hampton Inn Classic, hosted by Columbia College.
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Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).
