Lady Vikes pick up two more L&C wins
Alan Dale
Wausa Gazette
WAUSA — These Wausa Lady Vikings are feisty and have a short memory.
That’s why the volleyball team was able to bounce back from the disappointment of a 5-set defeat to rivals Bloomfield two weeks ago with two big wins including a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-14) win against Plainview and a 5-set thrilling win (20-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-12, 15-9) over rivals Randolph.
“I thought we had a very strong showing against Plainview in that we played with a tremendous amount of energy and intensity from start to finish and we just hit on all cylinders,” Wausa head coach Greg Conn said. “Against Randolph, we started out slow and it seemed like we just didn’t have the energy and intensity early in the match. As the match moved on, we picked up the tempo and were able to overcome adversity in set three and finished out the match very strong to get the victory.
“We made good strides in playing with adversity and that is something we are going to have to keep working on as the schedule keeps getting tougher as the weeks move on. This is a great bunch of kids to work with, they just keep playing hard each night out.”
Wausa (6-2) got some top performances from Hunter West (34 assists, 10 Kills), Reghan Bloomquist (nine) kills, Alexa Cunningham (seven solo blocks) and Abby Kaiser (15 digs) in the Plainview win.
Against Randolph, Hunter West (six kills, nine aces), Cunningham (six kills, four solo bocks) and Sienna West (30 assists) sparked the victory.
Hunter West said the girls were able to put aside the disappointment of losing to Bloomfield and bounce back accordingly.
“Our serve-receive has been strong and our serving has been really aggressive which helps put the other team out of system,” she said. “We all really want to win this season, so we all try our hardest to get to be where we want to be. We were all upset about that loss, but at the same time we just tried working on the things we need to, to beat the other teams coming up.
“We all have the same goal to try and do really well this season and I feel that is keeping us together and fighting to win our games.”
Hunter West noted that the Lady Vikings still need to work better with out-of-system balls, including in the attack.
“We need to stay aggressive and not give the other team easy balls,” Hunter West said. “We have been improving on coverage, picking up off of tips and blocks.”
The Lady Vikings played Winside Tuesday and will travel to Creighton Thursday evening.
“Creighton is playing real well right now and will be another great challenge for our kids,” Conn said. “Two conference matches and each one is significant as we get close to the conference tournament in terms of who will be able to host based on records.”
Wausa 25 25 25
Plainview 16 19 14
KILLS
Wausa - Hunter West, 10; Abrielle Nelson, 6; Alexa Cunningham, 3; Ali Lundberg, 3.
ACE SERVES
Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1; Sienna West, 1; Hunter West, 1.
BLOCKS
Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 8; Abrielle Nelson, 2; Sienna West, 2; Ali Lundberg, 1; Hunter West, 1.
SET ASSISTS
Wausa - Sienna Wrst, 34.
DIGS
Wausa - Abby Kaiser, 16; Hunter West, 15; Abrielle Nelson, 11; Sienna West, 9; Ali Lundberg, 2; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Leah Bloomquist, 1.
Randolph 25 14 25 12 9
Wausa 20 25 20 25 15
KILLS Randolph - Bailey Beal, 8; Emma Munter, 4; Jacey Bartels, 4; Erin Engel, 2; Ella Scott, 2; Brianna Sporleder, 2. Wausa - Hunter West, 6; Alexa Cunningham, 6; Abrielle Nelson, 5; Ali Lundberg, 4; Sienna West, 1.
BLOCKS Randolph - Bailey Beal, 10; Emma Munter, 2; Erin Engel, 1; Brianna Sporleder, 1; Ella Scott, 1. Wausa - Alexa Cunningham, 4; Sierra West, 4.
SET ASSISTS Randolph - Erin Engel, 20; Wausa - Sienna West, 30.
ACE SERVES Randolph - Erin Engel, 4; Bailey Beal, 3; Ella Scott, 2; Jacey Bartels, 1; Emma Munter, 1. Wausa - Hunter West, 9; Abby Kaiser, 4; Sienna West, 3; Ali Lundberg, 1.
DIGS Randolph - Jacey Bartels, 7; Erin Engel, 6; Ella Scott, 6; Grace Nordhues, 4; Ariel Fye, 3; Bailey Beal, 3; Taylor Bloomquist, 3; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 3. Wausa - Hunter West, 12; Abby Kaiser, 12; Sienna West, 9; Ali Lundberg, 4; Leah Bloomquist, 1.
