By Joshua Parrott, Sports Writer

Brek Horn witnessed her team’s will to win this past weekend during the last of four matches at the Rollins College Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

After opening with a 3-1 loss against Rollins College, the Wildcats defeated both Nova Southeastern (Fla.) and St. Leo (Fla.), 3-0 and needed only one point to take the fourth game and match over Eckerd (Fla.).

Leading Eckerd in the fourth game, 29-28, the Wild-cats stumbled and allowed Eckerd to tie the game. At that point, Horn saw her team’s true colors shine.

“We really wanted to win that game,” said Horn, whose Wildcats are now 5-3 overall. “The girls handled the pressure pretty well and stepped up. I’m proud of them for that.”

The Wildcats pulled together and closed out the game to defeat Eckerd 3-1. Horn said her team played better as the weekend progressed.

“As a young team, the mental aspect of the game is so apparent,” Horn said. “We tried to focus on staying intense.”

Freshman outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt led the team with 59 kills on the weekend, while junior outside hitter Haylee Hartline was second with 45 kills.

Horn said she liked the lineup change she made when she moved freshman right side hitter Amanda Slate into the middle blocker position and in-serted sophomore Kellen Mor-row as a right side hitter.

Horn said Morrow played impressively over the weekend.

“Kellen is the most vocal player on our team,” Horn said. “Having her out there the entire time helped us with team communication.”

Following two consecutive weekend trips, Horn allowed her players to rest Monday in preparation for this weekend.

The Wildcats head to Lubbock to take on NAIA powers Loyola (La.), Lubbock Christian University and Wayland Baptist.

Loyola, 4-1 overall, and LCU, 7-1 this season, combined to go 55-26 last season and both made appearances in the 2001 NAIA National Tournament. Wayland Baptist is 6-4 overall.

The Wildcats play Loyola Friday at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday play LCU at noon and Wayland Baptist at 4 p.m.