Sterling @ Freeman Tournament in Adams
Aug. 30 & Sept. 1, 2007
By Stan Karr
September 01, 2007
For the most part we started the season pretty well. Against Lewiston, fundamentally we executed well for the first game and made only a few mental errors. This was good to see starting out the season but with 6 seniors on the squad one should expect such a start. Except for a couple of times when we lost focus, we played well and put Lewiston away in 2 games.
The second game we faced a very good team in Elmwood Murdock, preseason rated #8 in class C-2. Their team is very tall and athletic. Our plan was to go right after them and try to beat them with a quicker offense. The first game was a tightly contested with both teams holding nothing back. I was very proud of how our girls battled & battled. There were times when we could have folded but we never did and the first game was a thriller with the Lady Jets winning 30-28.
In the second game, the momentum shifted, as so often happens in volleyball. We weren’t as aggressive and our communication broke down. EM got off to a quick lead and held it throughout the game with Sterling losing 19-25.
The third game wasn’t any better and it really hurt when we missed 5 serves. The third ended 15-25 with EM winning the game and match. It was a wonder we were even in games 2 & 3 but we can take consolation in the fact that EM went on and won the Championship in two games 25-18 and 25-18 versus Freeman.
On Saturday we first faced Odell-Diller at 11 am. I didn’t think we played as well as we had on Thursday but the girls found a way to win 25-21 & 25-20. I was quite concerned that we would come out and play the same way against Parkview Christian but we didn’t. Against Parkview C. we played much better and, except for a lull in the second game when we went ahead 17-6, we took care of business. Game scores were 25-14 & 25-14.
Overall, coming out 3-1 in the tournament was a good start to the season. We found out some things we need to improve and also discovered strengths we need to exploit.
Stats for tournament:
Serving; Kala Weber 41 of 45 with 6 aces and 22pts.
Courtney VanGroningen 42 of 57 with 3 aces and 28pts.
McKenzie McAuliffe 37 of 40 with 4 aces and 22 pts.
Maddie Dahling 31 of 23 with 4 aces and 16 pts.
Setting; Kala Weber 68 assists
Hitting; Maddie Daehling 24 kills
MacKenzie McAuliffe 23 kills
Digs; Courtney VanGroningen 33 digs
Maddie Daehling 31 digs
McKenzie McAuliffe 30 digs
Blocks; McKenzie McAuliffe 11 blocks
Maddie Daehling 10 blocks
