Despite their efforts, Lady Toppers are winless in D-SC midseason

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Glenwood City volleyball team hit the road last Tuesday night for a match against Colfax, which ended in a 0-3 loss and then they hosted Elk Mound on Thursday night, which ended in a 0-3 loss as well.

Outside of their regular conference play, the Lady Toppers also competed in a quad at the Pepin High School last Saturday, which also included Alma and Elmwood.

They won their match against Elmwood 25-18, 20-25 and 17-15. The Toppers faced off against Elmwood again Tuesday night for an official conference match.

They however lost to Pepin in both games 25-13 and were defeated by Alma 25-22 and 25-18.

The girls played one of their more aggressive conference games of the season thus far in their first set against the Vikings after they battled back and forth, tying the game several times before losing 20-25.

The game knotted seven different times with it starting at 7-7, all the way through 16-16. This happened with the help of Kayla Bloss and Kristie Knops who served up three points each. Kills by Kelly Perkins and Megan Samens also assisted in the Hilltopper’s 20 points scored.

Their aggressive motivation continued into the second game despite the loss as they started off down by three points and then rallied back to take a lead of 5-3. Bloss served up two aces and then Knops followed with two aces as well for another three point lead of 8-5.

The game then sided with Colfax after two errors on the Hilltoppers, which put them down 8-10. They rallied back and tied the game at 12-12 and again at 13-13 with kills by Perkins.

The Toppers would score two more points, but the game then turned in the Viking’s favor as they ran up the scoreboard and left the Toppers at a stand still as they won 25-15.

The Toppers fell apart in the third game as they lost their rhythm with one another, which caused the ball to fall into the net on attacks and fly out of bounds on passes.

The Vikings scored seven consecutive points on serves before Perkins put a stop to it with a kill and then an additional one by Samens, but that wasn’t enough as they lost 7-25.

Samens and Perkins each had eight kills that match, followed by Bloss with six, Leslie and Hannah Ludtke with two each and Nikki Gabbert and Mikaela Voeltz with one each.

The score clearly reflected that the Hilltoppers played their best game in the third set as they posted 19 points. The Mounders started the set sloppy and the Toppers executed on that, which allowed them to take an early lead of 3-0 and then again at 12-9.

The Mounders were able to tie up the game at 13-13, but the Toppers continued to keep a one-point edge over them until the scoreboard read 19-21.

From that point on the Mounders controlled the court with hard hits and strong blocks that the Toppers could not stop.

On the offense, Bloss had three kills and Perkins and Samens each had one. Kenzie Kruse and Voeltz each landed two service aces and Hannah Ludtke had one.

After the Hilltoppers played Elmwood Tuesday night, they will be on the road again this Thursday, October 3 as they play Spring Valley starting at 7:00 p.m.