FOR THE KILL — Hannah Johnson was a life saver for the Bulldogs as she went up for the kill once again for Boyceville in their three set match against the Colfax Vikings. —photo by Amber Hayden
By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
The Lady Bulldogs had a tough week losing both their home matches.
First to Somerset on Monday, October 7th and then to the defending conference champion Colfax Vikings on Thursday, October 10th.
The Bulldogs, 3-2 in conference action and 8-14 overall, played at Prairie Farm on Monday, October 14th, at Elk Mound the following evening, Tuesday, October 15th, and will play their last regular and conference season match on Thursday, October 17th when they host Elmwood/Plum City.
Somerset
Against Somerset, the Bulldogs were up by eight points in the first set but let their lead slip away with too many errors as a team. They lost the first set 24-26, the second 20-25 and the third 15-25.
According to Boyceville head coach, Keri Peterson, the Bulldogs did some good things but it just didn’t go their way.
“We have to stay mentally focused and be able to make plays when needed to get the win,” stated Peterson. “Unfortunately, as a team, we couldn’t do that tonight and that is frustrating at this point in the season. When we have the opportunity to finish a set with a win, we need to.”
She concluded by saying, “We lacked intensity and played flat.”
For the match, Emma Bygd had another great night of serving. She had 14 serves with two aces and no errors. Emma Ouellette led the team in assists with 11. Hannah Johnson was the kill leader with 11, Ella Holden had 4 kills and Kady Grambow 3. Chrissa Kersten was strong on defense with 7 digs.
Colfax
The Lady Dawgs knew that they would have their work cut out for them when the Colfax Vikings came to town October 10. It was a fast-paced match with a lot of good volleys throughout. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs came up short as they lost three straight matches to the conference co-leaders.
BLOCKING — Sisters Taylor Grambow (#20) and Kady Grambow (#14) went up for several blocks against the Vikings during Thursday night’s, October 10, game. —photo by Amber Hayden
In the first set, the Vikings pulled ahead 3-8 after a long serving streak. The Bulldogs finally got the serve back with a kill from Hannah Johnson. However, the Lady Dawgs just couldn’t seem to make a lot of head way against the hard hitting, strong blocking Vikings. The Bulldogs lost the first set 13-25.
Set two was a much different story as the score remained close throughout the set. Had it not been for a few serving errors, Boyceville may have won the second set. As it was, the set was tied up at least 11 times.
After a couple of long volleys, the Vikings were able to tie the set at 17, they then went ahead 21-17 before Ella Holden came up with a kill to make the score 18-21.
A short time later, it was Kady Grambow with a back row kill to make the score 20-22. Hannah Johnson then came up with back-to-back kills to tie the set at 22. After a long volley, the Bulldogs pulled ahead 23-22.
However, the Vikings tied it at 23 on a Bulldog serving error. The Vikings then added two more points to win the middle set 25-23.
In the third and final set, the Vikings jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and the Bulldogs struggled to get anything going. The Vikings took the third set 25-13.
Coach Peterson was happy with the girls play stating, “The team stayed focused and intense the whole match.”
She went on to say that Colfax was able to dig most of the Bulldogs’ attacks and that made a difference in the game.
Peterson commented further saying, “I’m proud of how hard the girls worked. We played decent defensively and blocked really well in the second set. They didn’t get down on themselves, even though the scores in the first and third set weren’t close. They battled to the end and that was great to see. Colfax is just such a good team with several talented players.”
Peterson praised Emma Ouellette’s serving. She served ten times with two aces and no errors.
She also commended the play of Chrissa Kersten, saying she played an awesome game. “She had many terrific passes to the setter giving us opportunity to score.”
Chrissa had 9 digs for the evening and Kady Grambow had 10. Hannah Johnson was once again the kill leader with 8.
It was also a good night for blocks with Kady, Hannah, Libby Bygd and Taylor Grambow all having two blocks each.
