Lady Jays Volleyball
Lady Jays Extend Streak at Pierce County Tournament
by Kennedy Warneke
The Lady Jays traveled to Plainview on October 17 to play in the Pierce County Volleyball Tournament. To start off the night, Pierce took on Osmond taking the first set 25-22 and winning the second set 17-25 . Progressing into the championship game, the Lady Jays took on Randolph and took control of the game by winning the first set 25-10 and finishing the game by taking the second set 25-16. The Lady Jays ended the tournament by finishing in 1st place.
Outside hitter, Morgan Moeller, commented on the game by saying, “We had a really good energy, and we didn’t give up throughout the whole game. We also were aggressive on our side, and it made the other teams struggle a bit.” M. Moeller also thinks the team can improve on focusing on their side and playing their game.
Head Coach, Brittany Weber, adds, “The rest of the season is going to be a challenge. We won’t get an easy game in the conference tournament no matter who we play. We will have to really focus on controlling serve and serve receive. We know we can score in system. It will come down to winning the serve and pass game. “ Weber was proud to see the team battle back after a slow start and thinks the team’s aggressive serving helped many other aspects of the game.
Leading the team in kills for the night was M. Moeller with 18, close behind was Zoe Brenden with 12 and Faith Lubischer with 10.
Kenzie Moeller led the team in digging for the night with 39 and M. Moeller had 11.
The Lady Jays next game will be on Thursday, October 24, while they take part in the conference tournament hosted at Pierce and Battle Creek High Schools.
Varsity Lady Jays Come Up Short Against Bluejays
by Autumn Hanna
Pierce varsity Lady Jays faced the Guardian Angels Central Catholic Bluejays Tuesday, October 15. The Pierce Lady Jays played three sets against GACC Jays, losing all three sets going home 0-3.
Rolling into the first set, the Lady Jays fought hard and kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. They came close to taking the set, but lost 22-25. Similar to the first set the Lady Jays kept up with the Bluejays, but fell short once again 21-25. In the final set for the night, the girls hustled, but GACC took home the win with the final set ending 20-25.
Leading the stats with aces for the game were Faith Lubischer and Zoe Brenden, both with two. Morgan Moeller had the most kills Tuesday night with 11. Brenden came followed close with eight kills. At the net, Lubischer had six blocks and Cayce Carlson had five. Libero Kenzie Moeller ended the night with 23 digs.
Head coach Brittney Weber commented on the game, “I was happy with our offensive effort. We were aggressive, and we didn’t make a lot of errors. Defensively, we struggled to get touches at the net. We are going to learn from this game and put it behind us.”
The Lady Jays’ next game will hopefully be Thursday, October 24, in Battle Creek. This will be the girls’ third Mid State conference game.
Lady Jays Volleyball Duel Elgin and Summerland in Battle Creek Triangular
by Morgan Blecher
The Lady Jays fought hard against Summerland, which consists of the towns Clearwater, Ewing, and Orchard, on Monday, October 14, and took home a win. After a long rally Pierce won the first set, and it ended with a score of 25-19. Sophomore Taylor Miller said, “Even though we won, we needed to communicate with each other more and decide who gets what ball.” Taking a victory, Pierce ended the second set 25-22.
The Lady Jays battled Elgin in their second game losing in a close three sets. Pierce walked out in the first set with fire in their eyes winning 25-18. Sophomore Michaela McWilliams said, “I feel like we worked really well as a team. We played great and brought each other up when needed.” Elgin claimed the second set 25-15. In the third set the Lady Jays won the coin flip and had first serve. Even though the Lady Jays fought hard they lost 5-15. The game on Tuesday, October 15, against GACC concluded the season for the Pierce JV team, but the varsity team will play this week in the Mid State conference tournament.
C Team Closes Out Season
by Samantha Fischer
The Lady Jays C team volleyball had their final game on Tuesday, October 15, in West Point against Guardian Angels Central Catholic (GACC). Even though they were upset with the game being the last, they came out with a win.
Sophomore, Michaela McWilliams says this about the game, “I think overall we played great. We served very well and got lots of digs in the back row, which helped us get the win.”
In the first set, the Lady Jays dominated and won 25-19. In the second set, the Lady Jays came out with a hard fight, but so did the GACC Bluejays. Even though the Bluejays fought hard, the Lady Jays came out on top 25-22.
Coach Krista Meyer, says this about the season, “We had a GREAT C team season this year. I can't say enough about the improvements that these girls made and their fight in every single game. This is definitely a group that is going to do big things in the future!”
The Lady Jays finished out their season with a 13-5 record.
Junior High Competes at Crofton
by Sarah Fenton
The A, B, and C junior high teams fought hard at the games on October 17 against Crofton, but sadly didn’t win any of them. The C team played the first set 16-21 and the second set with 14-21.
The B team was up next and their first set was 8-21. They started to fight back in the second set and earned a few more points than the first, but sadly ended with a score of 15-21. Player Madelyn Hanson says, “Our serves were good, and we set it up a lot.”
The A team played their first set with a score of 11-21. In the second set of the night, the A team was able to rack up a few more points ending the night with a score of 15-21. On more of a positive side, setter for the A team, Skylar Scholting says, “We definitely knew what we were doing in our rotation and our hitting was pretty good.”
The junior high volleyball girls will finish off their season on October 21 against Plainview.
Junior High Volleyball Takes Two Losses Against Wisner
by Faith Lubischer
Although they lost two out of their three games against the Wisner-Pilger Gators, the junior high volleyball teams fought hard until the final point.
In the first game of the night, the Lady Jays C team lost to the Gators 23-25 in the first set and then lost in another close match 28-30.
Next, the junior high B team battled against the Wisner-Pilger B team, but once again lost. The first set ended 11-25, but the Lady Jays fought back and won the second set 26-24. Fighting into the third set, the B team couldn’t find a way to win and lost 11-15.
B and C team coach, Katie Brummels explains that, “We’ll continue to work on serve receive.”
Ending the night on a high note, the A team was able to pull out a win against the Gators. The first set ended 25-19, and the second set ended 25-23.
Two A team players, Ava Knox and Maggie Painter, explain they were able to pull off the win due to their team bettering their communication skills throughout the game.
The junior high volleyball team finished their season on Monday, October 21 at Plainview.
Pierce Junior High Lady Jays Fall to the Panthers
by Graison Pfeiffer
The Pierce junior high girls lost all three of their games on Thursday, October 10.
Pierce A took on Norfolk 8 B losing in three. Pierce A started off strong 25-17 but dropped during the second set losing 23-25. Their game went into three sets; they fought hard but fell 14-16.
Ava Knox, A team player, says, “I feel like we were more confident and more cheerful.”
Next, Pierce B lost in two to Norfolk Junior High B, losing the first 14-25. They put up a fight in the second set but it wasn’t enough; they lost 17-25. The C team played next against Norfolk 7 B. The girls fell behind in the first set losing 8-25. They came close in the second set but still came up short losing 13-25.
Coach Brummels comments on the girls’ improvements by saying, “From the first set to the second set our serve receives improved and our girls adjusted to different servers.”
The girls compete next at Crofton on October 17 followed by their last game at Plainview on the 21st.
