Bees sting Lady Vikes in five-set thriller
WAUSA — The Wausa Lady Viking volleyball team headed into last week’s action against rival Bloomfield feeling pretty good about themselves.
Why not? They were 4-1 and owned a come-from-behind, 2-1 win over the same Lady Bees earlier in the season.
However, Wausa couldn’t withstand the Bloomfield drive to even the score and saw a two-set lead wither away in a 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 29-27, 15-11) home loss.
Hunter West (15 kills), Abby Kaiser (15 digs) and Sienna West (34 assists) were the Lady Vikings highlight performers according to head coach Greg Conn.
“We did everything but win the third or fourth sets of the match which would have given us the win,” Conn said.
Serving was critical, Conn said.
“The biggest issue we had was missing too many serves especially at crucial points in the match. I thought we blocked well and covered well defensively. We were down a little on serve receive as well,” he said. Give credit to Bloomfield, they gained momentum and never lost it down the stretch. They made a few more hustle plays than we did and that was the difference in the match.”
The Lady Vikings traveled to Plainview Tuesday night and will head to rival Randolph Thursday.
“These are very crucial matches for us because the Conference standings are becoming very important as we move into that part of the season,” Conn said. “In talking with Randolph’s coach (Rob Engel) this morning, we both agree that there is no clearcut standout team in our division and anyone can win on any given night. We need to refocus this week and become that standout team.”
Junior Alexa Cunningham said the loss to Bloomfield was a disappointment considering how tough the match was.
“It was really rough to think about since we had previously won against them,” Cunningham said. “It’s hard to think about losing to them. We came out strong in the beginning of each set, but it would go downhill once we made a few mistakes, and the mistakes would just haunt us. We couldn’t get (the fire) back.
The team played well, but not enough things went the Vikes’ way, she said.
“I feel we are good in our positions and coverage and we did everything right, but sometimes it’s not enough to get what needs to be done, done. I feel pretty good about how we are doing.”
Cunningham said the team’s strong serve-receive – an improvement from recent years – has aided the team’s early start.
“We have Sienna as our setter, strong attackers and front row as well,” Cunningham said. “We can definitely come back from the loss. We just need to keep working on our communication: It is one of our major downfalls in games. “If we can work on that more, we would be a lot more positive and wouldn’t get down.”
Cunningham said her play in the middle has been pretty good and is hoping to work more on her attack.
“It’s just working with the setter and I do feel pretty good,” she said.
Wausa 25 25 23 27 11
Bloomfield 21 22 25 29 15
KILLS Wausa - Hunter West, 15; Abrielle Nelson, 8; Alexa Cunningham, 8; Reghan Bloomquist, 5; Ali Lundberg, 3; Sienna West, 1.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 34; Ali Lundberg, 2.
ACE SERVES Wausa - Hunter West, 3; Sienna West, 1.
BLOCKS Wausa - Ali Lundberg, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 4; Hunter West, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 15; Hunter West, 7; Abrielle Nelson, 6; Sienna West, 6; Leah Bloomquist, 4; Reghan Bloomquist, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1; Kate Lundberg, 1.
SET ASSISTS
LCC - Kinsey Hall, 14; Haley Christensen, 7; Jordynn Urwiler, 4; Berniece McCorkindale, 2; Tali Erwin, 1; Mollie Schutte, 1.
ACE SERVES
LCC - Mollie Schutte, 1; Mallory Eriksen, 1.
DIGS
LCC - Haley Christensen, 9; Ella Hartung, 9; Paige Cook, 9; Mallory Eriksen, 8; Lainey Schutte, 7; Jordynn Urwiler, 6; Tali Erwin, 5; Kinsey Hall, 4; Mollie Schutte, 2.
