South O’Brien saw its volleyball season end with a loss to Trinity Christian in a Class 1A Region 1 opening round tournament match. The Tigers took all three sets, winning 25-17, 25-15 and 25-21 October 16 at Hull.
“We definitely got off to a good start and took advantage of opportunities to score,” commented South O’Brien head coach Amy Schmidt. “You could see that we were confident as we started set one. We were aggressive at the net, communicating and moving to the ball. Little mistakes allowed Trinity back into the set. As they came back, we started to be hesitant offensively and returned a lot of free balls and tips right to defenders. Little mistakes here and there, including missed serves really adds up over the course of the match. We work hard to earn a point and then having a missed serve just puts a dagger into you, metaphorically speaking. It’s hard to stay upbeat but the girls didn’t give up. They rallied, hustled and kept working. We just didn’t have enough to win tonight.
Schmidt shined the spotlight on several of her players following the match. “I thought Addison Hedberg did a great job of stepping into the starting setter position for injured Ashlynn Gunnerson,” said the coach. “With very little varsity or setting experience, Addi played confident and overall I was pleased with her efforts tonight. Chloe (Hustedt) and Reese (Farquhar) came along in set three as true threats. Our younger players need to realize that your age doesn’t matter when you’re on the floor playing. If you’re put into competition, you’ve obviously done the right thing to be there, so go do what you do best and don’t hold back!”
The Wolverines finished the 2023 campaign with a record of 6-16. “We had a pretty good season,” offered Schmidt. “We graduated a lot of seniors last year and were at the bottom of the (War Eagle) Conference. This year we graduate three seniors (Marissa Ebel, Brooklyn Edwards, Jinger Nieuwenhuis), all of whom played a great deal. We ended tied for seventh in the Conference, an improvement from last year. In order to get better, we have to understand that there aren’t choices to make when it comes to getting better and being good. You have to get to the weight room, open gyms, and do things the right way every time. I don’t mean that you need to be perfect, but you need to strive to do it correctly every time. There is no choice.”
For the match Hustedt was 11-of-14 attacking with five kills, Farquhar 10-of-15 with four kills and Brooklyn Edwards 16-of-17 with two kills. Hedberg finished with eight set assists and was 10-of-12 serving. Edwards served 8-for-9 with one ace and Taylor Wulf went 7-for-8 with an ace. Wulf also recorded a solo block. Nieuwenhuis dug up 11 Trinity attacks with Hustedt making seven digs and Farquhar and Hedberg four each.