Lady Jays Volleyball
Lady Jays Split at Ponca Triangular
By Abbie Cone
On Thursday, September 28, the Pierce Lady Jays traveled to Ponca to compete in a triangular against Ponca and Dakota Valley. Pierce swept Ponca 2-0, but fell to Dakota Valley 3-1.
“It’s always tough to lose,” Maggie Painter comments, “but I think it will be a great learning experience for all of us in the long run.”
In the Ponca game, the Lady Jays won the first set 25-11, and finished them off 25-14. Abbie Cone led the team in kills with 11, Jaya Wachholtz had seven, and Claudia Riggert put down three.
Maggie Painter contributed nine digs, Skylar Scholting added six, and Wachholtz made four.
For serving, Adrienne Riggert served three aces, Scarlett Babl made two, and Wachholtz, Scholting, and Riggert each added one ace.
Against Dakota Valley, Pierce lost the first set 25-15, but won the second 25-17. However in the third and fourth sets, the Lady Jays fell 25-18 and 25-23, respectively.
For stats against Dakota Valley, Wachholtz led the team in kills with 13, Riggert followed with nine, Cone added six, and Natalie Kosch made three.
For defense, Painter made 17 digs, Scholting dug up 11, Ava Knox made 10, and Emily Endorf and Wachholtz each made six.
For blocking, Riggert put down three, Kosch added two, and Wachholtz made one block.
“I’m really proud of the way we battled. We played a very good team and saw how we measured up,” Zach Weber comments. “We know there are things to improve, and also know that we’re going to work extremely hard to get where we’re gonna go.”
Lady Jays Defeat the LCC Bears
By Grace Behmer
The Lady Jays made the trip to Laurel on September 26 to face the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears for the third time this season and came home with the win, 3-1.
During the first set the Lady Jays lost 25-18.
“We bounced back after the first set and made the plays we needed to to win the next three, even though it wasn’t perfect,” says outside hitter Abigail Cone.
In the second set the Lady Jays rebounded and won 25-21.
“The team is definitely still learning and growing. The game against Laurel was a close one that we will use as a learning opportunity to help us finish the last couple weeks of the season strong,” states assistant coach Katie Brummels.
In the third set the Lady Jays had to fight hard and won 26-24.
During the final set the Lady Jays won 25-22 ending the game with a score of 3-1.
Jaya Wachholtz led the team with 22 kills during all four sets of the game.
Skylar Scholting led the team with 46 assists.
Claudia Riggert and Maggie Painter had a total of three ace serves during the entire game.
The Lady Jays host O’Neill on Thursday, October 5.
Pierce JV Plays in Ponca Triangular
By Jana Stone
The Pierce Lady Jays junior varsity volleyball team made their way to Ponca to play in a triangular with Ponca and Dakota Valley on Thursday, Sept. 28. Pierce won one and lost one game.
“I think we did really well especially considering that some of our players are on varsity so half of our girls were out. We brought a few freshman up and the sophomores stepped up and played their parts,” coach Allie Spence says. “We won against Ponca, it was a great game; we made it close with Dakota Valley. Our defense was great, but we really need to work on staying low.”
The first game of the night was the Pierce Lady Jays against the Ponca Indians. The Lady Jays took the first win of the night in two sets. The first set ended with a score of 25-18. The second set had a score of 25-17.
The next game was Pierce playing Dakota Valley. Pierce came onto the court with confidence but not enough. The first set the Lady Jays lost with a score of 25-18. In the second set, Pierce was trying to hold the Panthers but fell short and lost the second set 25-20.
“Dakota Valley is a good team and we played aggressively against them,” middle hitter Naomi Sullivan says. “We tried to pick up as many balls as we could.”
The JV Lady Jays will play again on October 9 at Battle Creek in a triangular.
Freshman Volleyball Dominates
By Savannah Beutler
On Saturday, September 30, the Pierce High Lady Jays freshman team played at a tournament hosted by the Pierce Girls Letter Club and came away as tournament champions.
“Our freshman tournament went amazing,” coach Allie Spence says. “We played some of the cleanest volleyball we have had this season. Our aggressive serving helped us a lot in the end, and we stayed aggressive at the net. We are improving more and more every week.”
The first team the Lady Jays played was Wayne, in the first set the score was 25-16 and second set was 25-18.
The second game Pierce won against was Norfolk Public in two sets. The first set being a 25-13 win and the second set a 25-23 win.
The last game Pierce battled against was Columbus Scotus. The first set was 25-20, despite the effort, the Lady Jays lost the second set 25-23. Coming back with fight, the third set was won 15-11 by the Pierce High Lady Jays. This led them to being the champion of the whole tournament.
Player Payton Montgomery says, “It went good, we did really well. We have things to clean up, but we fixed a lot as the games went on.”
The freshman team will be back in action on Thursday, October 5.
