Akron-Westfield rode the attacking of Makenzie Hughes to a 3-0 win over South O’Brien September 21 at Paullina. The junior notched 16 kills as the Westerners won 25-17, 25-18 and 25-13. With the loss the Wolverines fall to 1-5 in War Eagle Conference play.
“AW was a very scrappy team,” commented South O’Brien head coach Amy Schmidt. “We didn’t put up an effective block on the Hughes girl until later in the match and she hurt us badly. We struggled to even get touches on her hits. I felt that as the match went along, our defensive net play was much better. Although we only ended with two blocks for points, we did block (but they kept in play) a far greater number than what shows on stats. We did struggle with receiving the short serve tonight, which usually is not an issue.”
Brooklyn Edwards recorded a solo block and assisted Reese Farquhar on another. Leaders in the digs department were Abby Nelson with 12, Chloe Hustedt and Farquhar with seven apiece and Jinger Nieuwenhuis and Marissa Ebel each with five. “I pleased with Jinger’s defensive play,” said Schmidt. “She hasn’t had too many attacks her way until tonight and she had some spectacular digs.”
Taylor Wulf was 9-of-11 attacking with six kills. “Taylor had a good night at the net for us offensively,” noted Schmidt. “She showed her ability to be aggressive and we definitely benefited from it.” Edwards also recorded six kills while Ebel was the kills leader with eight. Ashlynn Gunnerson supplied 21 set assists.
Successful servers on multiple attempts included Gunnerson at 13-of-13, Hustedt at 11-of-11 and Farquhar at 8-of-8.
South O’Brien Stats
Kills-Errors-Attempts (Kill Efficiency): Team 25-18-63 (.111), Chloe Hustedt 3-4-13 (-.077), Reese Farquhar 2-1-5 (.200), Marissa Ebel 8-4-16 (.250), Taylor Wulf 6-2-11 (.364), Brooklyn Edwards 6-7-18 (-.056).
Assists: Ashlynn Gunnerson 21.
Digs: Team 41, Abby Nelson 12, Hustedt, Farquhar 7, Jinger Nieuwenhuis, Ebel 5, Gunnerson 3, Edwards 2.
Blocks: Edwards 1 solo, 1 assist; Farquhar 1 assist.
Serving (Efficiency): Team 45-49 (.918) 4 aces, Gunnerson 13-13 (1.000), Hustedt 11-11 (1.000) 1 ace, Nelson 2-3 (.667), Farquhar 8-8 (1.000) 2 aces, Ebel 3-5 (.600) 1 ace, Wulf 1-1 (1.000), Edwards 7-8 (.875).