Lady Vikes come up short in subdistrict title game
WAUSA — It could be considered a great ‘what could have been’ moment for the Wausa Lady Vikings volleyball team.
In front of an energetic crowd and having just won the second of two sets to put themselves one more win away from the subdistrict title, Wausa was thinking big things.
Unfortunately, Cedar Catholic found a second gear, rallied at Wausa’s house and escaped with a 3-2 (20-25, 21-25, 25- 21, 25-11, 16-14) win to end the Lady Vikes’ season at 17- 11.
Hunter West had a career-high 24 kills, Alexa Cunningham finished with 12 kills, Sienna West doled out 44 assists, Abby Kaiser and Hunter West contributed 17 and 13 digs while Ali Lundberg finished with four blocks.
“The season has come to an end and sooner than hoped for but not without playing a hard, hard-fought match, like two champion fighters trading punches all game long,” Wausa coach Greg Conn said. “It was a great crowd and a great atmosphere, and probably the biggest volleyball crowd I have seen in this gym. We played our best game of the year against Cedar Catholic and that’s all you can ask for. I told the kids, ‘Win or lose, you have to ask yourself after the match: Did I play as hard as I could for my team?’
Conn knew his squad had that kind of ability.
“I knew without any doubt, our kids could answer that question with a ‘yes.’ We blocked well, we attacked well and played great floor defense,” he said. “Cedar just got one more swing in the end than we did and thus, they move on.”
Hunter West said the loss was “upsetting” due to being up two sets and “playing really well,” before Cedar came back.
“Our energy went down as the game went on and our mental toughness wasn’t the best it could have been,” she said. “We played a great game and played well as a team, but things didn’t go our way.”
Despite the loss, the Viking program can learn from it, she said.
“It’s going to help us hopefully push us to get further next year. We know we are capable of it. It just hasn’t happened. Last year, we only went the first round of subdistrict and this year we got to the second round, so we are still getting better. It was cool to host subdistrict and I hope we can do better next year, host it again and get even further.”
Wausa’s record was the best Conn has seen with the program in many years and said the girls’ work ethic and competitiveness allowed for this to be a reality.
“Yes, anyone can look back on their schedule and say we should have won a couple more of those matches but what concerns me more than anything is what we took away from each match win or lose and apply it to our next practice and next match and I thought we did pretty good job of improving as a team moving forward,” Conn said. “We have that week in our schedule that is a huge grind and we pushed hard through that stretch which really set us up well for the conference and subdistrict tournaments. Play your best at the end and that’s all you can ask for and we accomplished that.”
So, what do they do for an encore?
“After the season ends, I sit at my desk and start writing a list of things that worked well or didn’t work well and what I can do better moving forward for this team and for the program,” Conn said. “Coming back, we have a solid group of players returning and will have some big shoes to fill after losing four seniors who were a major part of our success this year. These seniors learned to become good leaders throughout the season to add to that success.
“I think we have good leaders coming back next year but they have to realize that you don’t just show up and poof, you’re a leader. It’s a process and that process starts every day you wake up and how you conduct yourself on the court, in the classroom and amongst your peers.”
Hunter West said the Lady Vikings improved in block coverage and serving and staying on the attack even when forced out of the system.
“Our mental toughness was our weakest thing this season,” she said. “If we missed a few points, we would get down and it would effect our team and play. We could have won those games if our head was where we wanted it to be.”
Wausa loses Leah and Reghan Bloomquist, Abrielle Nelson and Lundberg.
“Thanks to our seniors, not only for being a big part in the success that we had this season, but for being a part of this program for four years,” Conn said. “It was fun to watch them grow as players and see the improvements they made throughout the course of the time spent in the program. It is a huge commitment from summer workouts to camps and I greatly appreciate all of your efforts.
“More importantly it was very gratifying to watch them grow as people and hopefully they can take something from this experience moving forward in whatever path they choose.”
