Ashlynn Gunnerson Makes The Dig On This West Sioux Attack.

Brooklyn Edwards Powers A Kill Past West Sioux’s Addison Westergard. Edwards Later Served All 15 Points As South O’Brien Blanked The Falcons In The Fifth And Deciding Set.

The Homecoming Week crowd at South O’Brien was treated to a marathon volleyball match September 29 as the Wolverines hosted West Sioux at Paullina. The teams alternated set wins with the Falcons claiming the odd numbers and South O’Brien the even. In the fifth and deciding, it should have been West Sioux’s turn but the Wolverines never let them into the set. With Brooklyn Edwards serving all 15 points, South O’Brien eliminated costly mistakes and shut out the Falcons to win the War Eagle Conference match 3-2. The victory raised the Wolverines conference record to 2-5 and their overall mark to 5-17.
“I would definitely call our match with West Sioux a grind,” remarked South O’Brien head coach Cortney Roskamp. “We had a lot of long rallies and, defensively, both teams were keeping things off the floor. However, most of the passing was out-of-system so we couldn’t get any hitters going to take some big rips on the ball. Thankfully our serve receive was steady all night and as the sets went on, we were more aggressive and efficient at the service line too.”
The Falcons’ winning score in the first set was 25-20. The Wolverines responded with a 25-22 triumph in set two. “After the first set, our biggest thing to clean up was communication,” noted Roskamp. “We were flat and needed more players talking out on the floor and bringing some energy.”
West Sioux turned in its strongest set in the third, winning 25-17. Some personnel changes ultimately helped the Wolverines even the match with a 25-23 victory in set four.
“In the second set, I made a change to the line-up and by the fourth set, I had made one more change,” Roskamp explained. “I felt that we needed some stronger pin hitters so I moved Brooklyn from the middle to the outside and put Taylor Wulf into the middle. This helped open some things up for us offensively and we were more aggressive at the net. As for the fifth set, the girls played clean ball and Brooklyn did tremendous from behind the service line, getting five aces in that set alone! I am proud that the girls dug in and worked hard to get that win!”
The Wolverines served at 93 percent, being successful on all but seven of their 106 serves. Edwards led the way with a 32-of-32 night, including six aces. Whitney Einck was 18-of-18. Serving two aces apiece were Payton Farquhar, Marissa Ebel and Maddie Johnson.
Three players reached double-digits in kills as Ebel had 13, Johnson 12 and Edwards 10. Einck supplied 33 set assists.
The 137 South O’Brien digs included 28 from Ebel, 22 from Wulf, 18 from Edwards and 15 from Farquhar. Johnson recorded two solo blocks and one assist. Ebel and Edwards each had one solo block and one assist.
South O’Brien Stats
Kills-Errors-Attempts (Kill Efficiency): Team 45-24-127 (.165), Karlee Warnke 3-2-10 (.100), Taylor Wulf 1-2-8 (-.125), Payton Farquhar 0-0-1 (.000), Marissa Ebel 13-3-27 (.370), Claire Wagner 0-1-2 (-.500), Tatiana Conley 6-8-25 (.000), Brooklyn Edwards 10-8-31 (.065), Maddie Johnson 12-2-23 (.435).
Assists: Whitney Einck 33, Warnke, Farquhar, Wagner, Edwards 1.
Digs: Team 137, Ebel 28, Wulf 22, Edwards 18, Farquhar 15, Warnke, Einck 12, Johnson 11, Jadyn Renken 10, Ashlynn Gunnerson 7, Wagner, Conley 1.
Blocks: Johnson 2 solos, 1 assist; Ebel, Edwards 1 solo, 1 assist; Warnke 1 assist.
Serving (Efficiency): Team 99-106 (.934) 14 aces, Warnke 8-9 (.889) 1 ace, Gunnerson 3-3 (1.000), Einck 18-18 (1.000), Wulf 9-9 (1.000) 1 ace, Farquhar 12-13 (.923) 2 aces, Ebel 9-10 (.900) 2 aces, Claire Wagner 0-1 (.000), Edwards 32-32 (1.000) 6 aces, Johnson 8-11 (.727) 2 aces.