South O’Brien traveled to Remsen September 12 to take on Remsen St. Mary’s. The Wolverines extended the home team in set three but were still swept 3-0. Set scores for the Hawks, ranked 11th in Class 1A, were 25-14, 25-18 and 30-28.
“I thought we played really well in set one,” commented South O’Brien head coach Amy Schmidt. “We served fairly tough and our serve reception was much better. We got behind but still battled for sideout points and earned our points. We were getting a lot of touches on our blocks but they weren’t falling for points. Our free ball passing was better and overall we played pretty good for our opening set.
“Set two we missed five crucial serves. After working hard to get a sideout, we have to be able to get our serves in. Although we were trying to serve much tougher tonight, we still need to be able to get serves in. We lost a little fire power in our attacks as we weren’t as aggressive as we should’ve been. I thought defensively, our girls played well. We covered the floor well and made a concerted effort to keep the ball in play.
“Then set three came. We had a whole new team that showed up. Our kids were behind and just found that extra bit of energy that we’ve been looking for. We battled hard the entire set and fought through some really tough rallies. Although we didn’t win every rally, I felt like we did because we hustled so hard and played so well together. As needed, we had a couple of kids step up off the bench and really did well when called upon. This has been something that we’ve been working on and trying to get the girls to understand; when you’re struggling, it’s nice to be able to call upon another player to step up and get the job done. I felt that Lindsey Einck did just that as I called her to step up and serve for Chloe Hustedt in set three. She served tough and played well in the back row. Claire Wagner also stepped up and played to her capabilities in helping out our rightside Reese Farquhar.
“Brooklyn Edwards continues to lead us at the net both offensively and defensively. She found another gear tonight and has continued to lead us on the floor. Marissa Ebel played well tonight as well. We feel that she is really starting to play like she’s capable of and is a leader on the floor. Abby Nelson has been our vacuum in the back row. She’s been able to get to a large number of hits and come up with some great digs.
“It was just a fun night to watch our girls play overall. We played well together and although the outcome didn’t favor us, we saw some great things which we hopefully can build on for the rest of the season.
South O’Brien Stats
Kills-Errors-Attempts (Kill Efficiency): Team 14-16-63 (-.032), Chloe Hustedt 0-3-12 (-.250), Abby Nelson 1-0-1 (1.000), Reese Farquhar 1-3-8 (-.250), Marissa Ebel 5-5-17 (.000), Taylor Wulf 2-3-7 (-.143), Brooklyn Edwards 5-2-18 (.167).
Assists: Ashlynn Gunnerson 10, Reese Farquhar 1.
Digs: Team 45, Abby Nelson 16, Gunnerson 7, Hustedt, Ebel 6, Jinger Nieuwenhuis 5, Lindsey Einck, Edwards 2, Farquhar 1.
Blocks: Edwards 1 solo, 1 assist; Hustedt 1 solo; Gunnerson, Farquhar, Wulf 1 assist.
Serving (Efficiency): Team 39-48 (.812) 8 aces, Gunnerson 6-7 (.857) 1 ace, Hustedt 2-5 (.400), Nelson 3-4 (.750) 3 aces, Einck 5-5 (1.000) 1 ace, Farquhar 1-1 (1.000), Ebel 8-10 (.800) 1 ace, Wulf 5-5 (1.000), Claire Wagner 4-6 (.667) 2 aces, Edwards 10-10 (1.000).