South O’Brien got a first-set win over MMCRU but let the Royals escape in the next two. MMCRU was able to capture the final three sets to leave Paullina with a 3-1 War Eagle Conference win September 19. The scores for the Royals were 21-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-12.
“It was Pink Out Night and our girls came out on fire,” noted Wolverine head coach Amy Schmidt. “We played solid, fundamental volleyball in the first set. We did a great job of playing well together and covering the floor defensively while seeing the entire floor offensively. I was pleased with Chloe Hustedt and Reese Farquhar and their ability to step up and show their leadership on the court. Defensively, we had a great number of touches on blocks, but MMCRU did a great job of keeping the ball in play. I felt that we had some really good rallies throughout the match, but every time we tied the score up, we would make simplistic errors and fall behind 2-3 points. We had plenty of opportunities to put the match away in three sets, but obviously failed to do so. A great deal of the game of volleyball deals with your ability to mentally prepare and then stay focused while pushing through some adversity. We are still looking for a consistent balance between playing smart and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone to be successful.”
Top servers were Ashlynn Gunnerson at 14-of-15, Marissa Ebel at 13-of-14, Reese Farquhar at 12-of-14 and Brooklyn Edwards at 10-of-12. Each served one ace.
Chloe Hustedt was 23-of-30 attacking with eight kills. Farquhar was 12-of-17 with six kills. Edwards was 16-of-19 with three kills and Taylor Wulf was 10-of-15 with three kills. Gunnerson assisted on all 23 of the team’s kills.
On the defensive side, Edwards executed one solo block while Abby Nelson dug up 19 MMCRU attacks.
South O’Brien Stats
Kills-Errors-Attempts (Kill Efficiency): Team 27-30-111 (-.027), Ashlynn Gunnerson 1-0-2 (.500), Chloe Hustedt 8-7-30 (.033), Abby Nelson 0-1-1 (-1.000), Reese Farquhar 6-5-17 (.059), Marissa Ebel 5-9-26 (-.154), Taylor Wulf 3-5-15 (-.133), Jaylah Jackson 1-0-1 (1.000), Brooklyn Edwards 3-3-19 (.000).
Assists: Gunnerson 23.
Digs: Team 42, Nelson 19, Hustedt, Farquhar 5, Gunnerson, Ebel 4, Jinger Nieuwenhuis 3, Lindsey Einck, Edwards 1.
Blocks: Edwards 1 solo.
Serving (Efficiency): Team 64-75 (.853) 5 aces, Gunnerson 14-15 (.933) 1 ace, Hustedt 1-3 (.333), Nelson 7-9 (.778), Einck 7-8 (.875) 1 ace, Farquhar 12-14 (.857) 1 ace, Ebel 13-14 (.929) 1 ace, Edwards 10-12 (.833) 1 ace.