Lady Vikes improve to 13-7
Alan Dale
Wausa Gazette
BLOOMFIELD — The Wausa Lady Vikings completed a very busy week with three wins in six matches, then started another busy week on Monday with a 25-19, 23-25, 25-17 win over Bloomfield in the opening night of the Knox County Tournament.
The Lady Vikes now stand at 13-7 overall with a final slate of games set prior to the beginning of SubDistrict play in another 10 days or so.
Wausa beat Osmond (21-25, 25-13, 25-13, 11-25, 16-14), CWC (25-18, 25-13) and Winside (25-12, 12-25, 25-12) while losing EPPJ (25-22, 25-17), Hartington-Newcastle (25-23, 26-24) and North Central (22-25, 25-21, 25-22).
Standout performances were by Hunter West who had 15 and 12 kills against Osmond and North Central, Sienna West’s 44-assist performance against Osmond, Alexa Cunningham’s 13 kills and five blocks against Osmond and Reghan Bloomquist’s four-solo block showing against North Central.
Abby Kaiser had 12 and 11 digs against Osmond and North Central.
“We started out pretty good by defeating Osmond in a thriller,” Wausa head coach Greg Conn said. “I thought we played pretty well and fairly consistent all night long. As the week went on, so did the roller coaster ride. We looked really good in the first set of the EPPJ game and then slid to the bottom during the second set. We worked our way back in but a little too late.
“Against Hartington-Newcastle, we led late in the first set but could not finish and did the same in the second set. In the Winside match we came out firing on all cylinders and won the first set handedly. In set two we pulled the ole Jekyll and Hyde routine and got beat handedly. In set three, it was a mirror image of the first set.”
Senior Leah Bloomquist said the busy week wouldn’t hurt the Lady Vikings preparation for the grind of the playoffs.
“I feel like everybody toward the end of season hits a wall and it depends on if you will dig to get out of it or be complacent with where you are,” she said. “I am sure all the girls on our team want to go as far as they can. We all have the skill and the mindset to do it, we just have to put in the work to do it. One thing that has gone really well is our communication has gotten a lot better. We don’t praise just the person who gets the point, but also the people who help us get the point.”
Bloomquist also cited the Wausa need to improve its serving game.
“Holy moly, I don’t serve because I tore my labrum last year and am still kind of recovering from surgery, but we really need to get our serves in,” Bloomquist said. “I love these girls to death and really like where we are. A realistic expectation is for us to come out on top of conference and district and hopefully go to State. We have the girls to do it.”
As the playoffs approach, Conn and crew needs to find a way to keep themselves centered.
“We have a good team, and we are in the meat grinder week of competition with the Knox Co. Tourney and Wynot on Thursday,” Conn said. “Then we begin conference play either Saturday or Monday. We have to find a way to become more consistent from one set to another. We have a great chance of getting wins this week, but we have to look no further than the match in front of us one game at a time.”
Wausa 25 23 25
Bloomfield 19 25 17
KILLS Wausa - Hunter West, 13; Alexa Cunningham, 8; Reghan Bloomquist, 5; Abrielle Nelson, 2; Sienna West, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1.
ACE SERVES Wausa - Sienna West, 5; Hunter West, 4; Ali Lundberg, 1; Abby Kaiser, 1.
BLOCKS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 6; Reghan Bloomquist, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 10; Sienna West, 7; Hunter West, 6; Abrielle Nelson, 6; Leah Bloomquist, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 27; Abby Kaiser, 2; Hunter West, 1; Ali Lundberg, 1.
Elgin Pope John 25 25
Wausa 22 17
KILLS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 4; Hunter West, 3; Reghan Bloomquist,2; Abrielle Nelson, 1; Sienna West, 1; Ali Lundberg, 1.
ACE SERVES Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 3; Hunter West, 2.
BLOCKS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 4; Reghan Bloomquist, 2; Hunter West, 1; Sienna West, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 8; Hunter West, 6; Sienna West, 3; Abrielle Nelson, 2.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 11; Ali Lundberg, 1.
CWC 18 13
Wausa 25 25
KILLS
Wausa - Hunter West, 3; Ali Lundberg, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 1; Abrielle Nelson, 1.
ACE SERVES
Wausa - Ali Lundberg, 6; Abrielle Nelson, 1; Kate Lundberg, 1; Abby Kaiser,1.
BLOCKS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 3; Kate Lundberg, 2; Reghan Bloomquist, 1; Hunter West, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Sienna West, 7; Abrielle Nelson, 5; Abby Kaiser, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 2.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 7; Ali Lundberg, 1.
Hartington Newcastle 25 25
Wausa 23 24
KILLS Wausa - Hunter West, 8; Reghan Bloomquist, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 3; Ali Lundberg, 1.
ACE SERVES Wausa - Hunter West, 2; Abby Kaiser,2; Ali Lundberg, 1;Sienna West, 1.
BLOCKS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1; Abrielle Nelson, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 8; Hunter West, 6; Abrielle Nelson, 6; Sienna West, 5; Leah Bloomquist, 3.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 16.
North Central 22 25 25
Wausa 25 21 22
KILLS Wausa - Hunter West, 12; Ali Lundberg, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 4; Abrielle Nelson, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 1. ACE SERVES
Wausa - Abrielle Nelson, 3; Reghan Bloomquist, 2; Abby Kaiser,2.
BLOCKS Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 4; Sienna West, 3; Ali Lundberg, 1; Reghan Bloomquist, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 15; Hunter West, 8; Sienna West, 4; Abrielle Nelson, 3; Leah Bloomquist, 3.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 23; Abby Kaiser, 1.
Winside 12 25 12
Wausa 25 12 25
KILLS Wausa - Hunter West, 6; Ali Lundberg, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 4; Reghan Bloomquist, 4; Abrielle Nelson, 3.
ACE SERVES Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 2; Abrielle Nelson, 1; Tayah Anderson, 1.
BLOCKS Wausa - Reghan Bloomquist, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1; Kate Lundberg, 1.
DIGS Wausa - Sienna West, 7; Abrielle Nelson, 4; Abby Kaiser, 3; Leah Bloomquist, 2; Hunter West, 2.
SET ASSISTS Wausa - Sienna West, 19; Ali Lundberg, 2.
