Hilltopper netters fall short at Ellsworth triangular

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Glenwood City volleyball players traveled to Ellsworth on Thursday, August 30 for a triangular against the Ellsworth Panthers and the St.Croix Central Panthers.

The first match up was a good volley for the win against the SCC netters. The Toppers beat the SCC Panthers in a close match, 25-22.

The second match was a close one as well, but the favor went towards the Panthers who won 25-21. A third tie breaker match was played to 15 in which the Panthers sealed the victory over the Hilltoppers with a 15-7 win.

“Our first match went very well and the girls were on fire. We had several position changes including moving Haley Tiberg from the middle to the outside where she had more room to hit. Megan Samens also stepped in to play libero due to our usual starter Ashley Burn being out with the flu,” shared coach Chelsea Culver.

During the game against SCC, Tiberg had 12 kills and two aces, Kelly Perkins had three kills, Elizabeth Nyhus and Maggie Jordheim had one block each, Kenzie Kruse served five aces, Megan Samens and Kelsie Knops had two aces and Stephanie Caress had 12 assists.

In the second game against the Ellsworth Panthers, the Hilltoppers seemed to fall apart as they lost back to back games 12-25 and 15-25.

“The second match was extremely rough. The team lost all of their momentum from their initial fire-powered start and made a lot of little mistakes such as not getting to the right spot and there were repeated missed serves,” said Culver.

In this match-up against Ellsworth, there were just three kills made by Kelsie Knops. Three ace serves were hit by Maggie Jordheim and Kenzie Kruse and Megan Samens and Stephanie Caress had two aces each.

“Although the scores don’t necessarily show it, we have improved significantly in the past week in regards to technique and teamwork. We will be focusing a lot on individual skills and confidence, especially since they seem to struggle the most with keeping their spirits up once things start to not go their way,” shared Culver.