Lady Cards move to 9-7
Alan Dale
Randolph Times
TILDEN — The Randolph volleyball team exited the weekend with a 9-7 record after a busy week of action.
The Lady Cards earned wins over Walthill 2-0 (25-11, 25-13) and Wakefield 2-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-19) last week.
On Saturday Randolph took part in the Elkhorn Valley tournament, and suffered losses to the hosts 2-0 (26-24, 25-21), St. Paul 2-0 (25-6, 25-11) and earned a win over Boyd County 2-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-23).
“We did a good job of coming out strong and taking care of business against Walthill,” Randolph head coach Rob Engel said. “We started strong against Wakefield, and they came back on us in the second set. They are a good team, but we were able to come back and play our game in the third set and come away with the win.
“Saturday’s tournament was loaded with good teams. We started a bit flat against Elkhorn Valley and let the first set slip away in extra points. We got things on track in the second set better, but lost a hard fought, back and forth set. Against St. Paul, we were a little overwhelmed by their size and speed. It’s always tough to play up three classes, and there is a reason they didn’t lose a set until the state semis last season. We were able to regroup against Boyd County and win a good first set. We had a big letdown in the second set and let them come back to beat us, we didn’t do a good job closing out at all. I’m proud of how the girls were able to bounce back mentally and win a tough third set against a good team in Boyd County.”
Against Walthill, Keely Pinkleman had eight kills, Bailey Beal had six kills and Erin Engel had 12 assists.
In the Wakefield win, Beal finished with 11 kills, Gracie Eledge had nine digs, Erin Engel had 14 assists and Abby Schmit added 12 assists.
Beal had four total blocks against Elkhorn Valley with Jaiden Taylor adding 13 digs.
Against Boyd County, Natalie Munter (eight kills, four aces), Beal (seven kills, seven total blocks), Schmit (17 digs), Taylor (15 digs), Pinkelman (13 digs) and Eledge (10 digs) led the way.
Libero Eledge has been sweeping the backline since her sophomore year and has, like her team, improved in many areas, including her technique.
She’s been able to do that while battling a chronic hip injury that she and her doctors still can’t pinpoint as the cause.
“She’s been battling it this year, but you couldn’t tell watching her on the court,” Engel said. “She always gives 100 percent and has been a good positive influence in the locker room and on the court.”
Eledge alluded to the fact that having to play the role of a leader for the Lady Cardinals is a major driving force for staying on the court despite not feeling well in many cases.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to make it through games sometimes,” she said. “It’s my senior year and I am not going to let any ball drop without trying. Yes, my hip really does bother me, but I won’t let it effect how I finish my senior year off.
“My teammates can tell when I am in a lot of pain. But with all the adrenaline, in the moment, it doesn’t hurt. But after the fact I do it, the pain increases. Every moment I am on the court it’s worth it. If I am having a good day with my hip it’s amazing. If I am having a bad day, I just got to fight harder and push myself even more.”
The frustrating part is that Eledge and her doctors do not actually know for sure what is causing the injury outside of the hip is “extremely inflamed.”
“I think it was more of a slow progression of getting worse and worse,” she said. “We are doing therapy where we can do everything, we can to make it tolerable. My PT said that fixing an injury while the athlete is in a sport is like changing a tire on a moving vehicle: It’s impossible.”
After dealing with this for a year it’s almost now just a part of her normal daily routine since suffering an injury she doesn’t even know when or how she suffered it.
“I don’t really recall doing anything or having anything happen,” Eledge said. “The longer I’ve been playing volleyball and basketball and being active it has slowly gotten worse.”
Crazy to think she still has gotten better as a defensive force for the Lady Cardinals during all this.
“I have come to the conclusion that I have to adjust my passing and position I am in,” she said. “If I am in an athletic stance sometimes, I can’t be in the correct stance because something is bothering me. So, I addressed that in changing whatever I am doing.”
The hope now is that the injury will recover slowly once Eledge slows her roll on the court.
“It’s slowly gaining back that muscle strength in my hip and letting those muscles calm down a little bit,” she said. “They are irritated and angry. After sports it will possibly get better and I hope it really, really does. I have a long road ahead of me, but I am not going to quit doing sports.”
This week the Lady Cardinals played at Creighton on Tuesday and head to a triangular at Winside.
SEE LADY CARDS, page 5
“Winside is always great defensively and will be improved since we played them early in the season,” Engel said. “Bloomfield has some good athletes and were really competitive in our match last season.
“We are still fighting for consistency. When we’re at our best, we can play with anybody around in class D. But we don’t always bring the same focus and intensity that we are capable of. We’re looking forward to competing for our division regular season championship and leading into the conference tournament and district play at the end of the season.”
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