Lady Jays Volleyball
Lady Jays Take Home the Gold
By Claudia Riggert
The Pierce Lady Jays volleyball team dominated in the Madison September Classic volleyball tournament on Saturday, September 24, after they played three games and came out victorious in all three bringing home the first place title.
The Lady Jays started their day off playing by playing the Wayne Blue Devils. The Lady Jays came out strong in the first set and took the set with a score of 25-17. In the second set, the Lady Jays dominated the Blue Devils with a final set score of 25-11. Claudia Riggert led with nine kills and only one error. Morgan Moeller ended up with nine digs, and Jaya Wachholtz contributed two blocks.
Moeller claims, “Overall, I feel we executed well and continued to make steps forward. It’s not easy to play three games in one day, but we kept the energy up and made memories. I am really proud of our tournaments this year, and we finished out great!”
For their second game of the day, the Lady Jays played the Wisner-Pilger Gators. In the first set, the Lady Jays took down the Gators with a score of 25-18. Allowing the Lady Jays to advance onto the championship match, the Lady Jays stole the set with a final score of 25-10. Wachholtz led the team with 13 kills, and Maggie Painter and Riggert both ended with six kills. Moeller had five aces.
For the final match of the day, the Lady Jays took on the top seeded Humphrey St. Francis Flyers for the tournament championship. With a thriller of a first set, the Lady Jays battled and ended with the 25-23 win. Coming out stronger in the second set, the Lady Jays took home the victory with a final set score of 25-14. Wachholtz led the team with 13 kills, and Riggert with seven kills. Skylar Scholting had three aces, and Moeller ended up with 13 digs.
“It was a great weekend for us,” said head coach Zach Weber. “We executed at a high level for most of the day. There’s still plenty to improve on as we enter the second half of the season though, but I am very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.”
Pierce will host a home triangular with Dakota Valley and Ponca on Thursday, September 29.
Pierce Lady Jays Take a win at LHNE
By Shayna Hawkinson
On Thursday, September 22, the Pierce Lady Jays traveled to Lutheran High Northeast to take them on and got a win 3-0.
In the first set, the Lady Jays won 25-17. In the next set, the Lady Jays let the Eagles get a little closer, but the Lady Jays still won 25-23. The score for the last set was 25-16.
Leading the team in attacking was junior Maggie Painter with 18 kills, followed by fellow junior Jaya Wachholtz with 16 kills. Sophomore Claudia Riggert registered 7 kills against the Lutheran High Northeast Eagles. Riggert comments, “Overall it was a great game for our team. We had a step back on Tuesday, and we found a way to learn from it and we came back stronger on Thursday.”
Riggert, Wachholtz, Skylar Scholting and Ciara Garcia all had assisted blocks for the Lady Jays.
Morgan Moeller recorded 19 digs, while teammates Painter and Wachholtz had 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
Head coach Zach Weber states, “I’m proud of the way we bounced back. We executed well and improved significantly in a lot of areas.”
The next game for the Lady Jays will be Thursday, September 29, at home against Ponca and Dakota Valley.
Lady Jays Take Defeat to Trojans
By Autumn Lambrecht
On September 20, the Pierce Lady Jays took on one of their toughest matches yet against the Hartington Cedar Catholic Trojans, and lost after four tough fought sets 3-1.
In the first set, the Pierce Lady Jays came out strong and beat the Hartington Cedar Catholic Trojans 25-19. Coming back for the second set, the Lady Jays were able to put up 21 points against the Trojans, but fell short by four points, losing the second set 25-21.
Senior libero Morgan Moeller remarked, “We played hard and aggressive, but we just need to be more confident and consistent. I am very proud of how hard we fought.”
Entering the third with an even bigger fight, the Lady Jays still came out strong and put up 22 but again fell slightly short against the Trojans, 25-22. For the fourth and final set, again the Lady Jays battled their way up to 22 points while the Trojans took home the match, winning the set 25-22.
Throughout the night, junior Maggie Painter led the team with 16 kills, followed by sophomore Claudia Riggert with eight kills. Senior Ciara Garcia had six kills and led the team with six blocks as well. Junior Jaya Wachholtz had three ace serves, along with seniors Morgan Moeller contributing 38 digs and Brielle Unseld providing 42 assists and two ace serves.
Head coach Zach Weber comments, “It was a good match. Credit to Cedar for playing a very hard and clean match. We have things we need to clean up for sure, but we were right there the whole match. I’m proud of our kids and the fight they showed.”
The Pierce Lady Jays will be back in action on September 29, against Dakota Valley and Ponca in a triangular held at Pierce High School.
