Lady Jays Volleyball
Lady Jays Compete in Triangular
by Samantha Fischer
The Pierce High Lady Jays traveled to Albion to compete in a triangular with Boone Central Newman Grove and Wayne High School. In the first game against Wayne, the girls put up a tough fight, but lost in two sets. In the first set, the Lady Jays lost 25-17, and in the second set, the Jays lost 25-15. Leading in kills for the game was Morgan Moeller with 9.
Sophomore, Payten Simmons said, “We had great attacks, but with Wayne’s defense, they just picked up all of our aggressive swings.” The next game for the night was against BCNG. In a very hard fought three sets, the Lady Jays came out on top. In the first set, the girls lost 22-25, in the second set they won 25-20, and in the third set, the Lady Jays won the close set 25-23. Leading in kills was senior hitter Zoe Brenden with 9.
Junior middle hitter, Faith Lubischer said of the BCNG game, “Our strengths were blocking, and we had a little more fight in us.”
The Lady Jays next game is the Pierce County Tournament, being held in Plainview next Thursday, October 17.
JV Lady Jays Defeated by Mustangs
by Hannah Whitmore
The junior varsity Lady Jays volleyball team played the Stanton Mustangs on October 10. They fell short in sets 2 and 3 in a close game. The girls lost 1-2.
JV Coach Zach Weber said, “We did not do a great job of handling adversity. We played extremely well in the first set, but once we made a few errors in the second we struggled to get back on track. We played scared, which exacerbated our problems.”
Autumn Hanna, defensive specialist, said, “The girls played hard and gave it their all. We just need to work on keeping our energy up and finishing the game.”
JV Lady Jays Conquer in the Triangular
by Taylor Miller
The junior varsity Lady Jays swept Wayne and Boone in the Boone Central triangular on Tuesday, October 8. The Lady Jays won their first set against Wayne with a score of 25-23, but fell short in the second set with the score of 18-25. After a suspenseful third set, the Lady Jays defeated Wayne with the score of 15-11.
When Larissa Meier, defensive specialist, was asked what she thinks the team did well, she said, “We were all able to keep our heads together, and our defense was very strong. We also had many strong hits.”
In their second game, the girls took down Boone Central in just two sets with scores of 25-16 and 25-22. When Morgan Blecher, left side hitter, was asked what she thinks the team needs to work on, she said, “We need to work in communication with each other and reading the other team so we can be prepared for a dig.”
The Lady Jays next game will be on Tuesday, October 15 against Guardian Angels Central Catholic.
C Team Defeats Mustangs
by Kennedy Warneke
The C team Lady Jays overpowered the Mustangs of Stanton, Thursday, October 10. The Lady Jays started off the game on a high note, winning the first set 25-19 . Pulling together a win, the Lady Jays finished the second set 25-19 .
Setter Taylor Miller recaps the game by saying, “I think some of our strengths were keeping our head in the game and taking care of our side of the court.”
Defensive specialist, Sarah Fenton, exclaims, “We had some ups and downs, but our blocking and hitting were definitely better at the end of the game. Our defense has been good all season, but I think that we should still work on it before the end of the season.”
The C-team will be in action on October 15, which will be the last game of their season.
Junior High suffers defeat by Norfolk Catholic
by MacKenzie Peters
The junior high volleyball team lost to Norfolk Catholic on Saturday, October 12, after playing four games, all of which were won by the Knights.
The A team played two games. The first game was won by Norfolk Catholic two sets to one. 25-17 was the ending score of the first set, where Pierce ended on top. The roles were reversed in the second set when the Lady Jays lost to the Knights 17-25. Norfolk Catholic ended the game first game with Pierce with a score of 15-25.
Pierce lost again in the second game with just two sets. The first was a close one, but Norfolk Catholic managed to sneak ahead of the Lady Jays with a score of 20-25. The Knights took down Pierce in the final set, 14-25.
The Pierce B team lost to Norfolk Catholic in two sets. The Knights defeated Pierce 11-25. Pierce improved in the next set, scoring 15, but this was not quite enough to get ahead of Norfolk Catholic’s 25.
The C team was taken down yet again by the Knights in two sets. The first set was a tight match, but the Knights managed to get ahead of the Lady Jays 19-25. Norfolk Catholic kept their streak going into the last set, where they beat Pierce 12-25.
When asked about a stand out player, A team coach Angie Schroeder said, “Alexys Hahne played really well. Her passing was superb. I just designated her myself as the MVP of the game. She always has one emotion and that is seriousness. I mean she was really just fantastic.”
“Although there were some good moments, I was a bit disappointed with our performance on Saturday. During the C team game we struggled with communication and serve receive which are two things we have been trying to work on all year. The B game was a bit better, but unfortunately we had too much hesitation which really hurts us when playing a tough opponent.” says coach Katie Brummels.
The junior high girls will play next against Crofton on Thursday, October 17, at Crofton High School.