Lady Dawgs slain by Vikings in season volleyball opener
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By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
After having their games cancelled/postponed against Spring Valley in the opening week of the volleyball season, the Lady Bulldogs started the season against a tough opponent, the Vikings of Colfax. This was the Bulldog’s first match under the direction of head coach Kacey Lane.
After falling behind two sets to none at home in last Tuesday’s (September 22) opening match, Boyceville rallied to win the next two before falling in the fifth and final set. Two days later in Colfax, the Vikings made short work of the rematch, claiming victory in three straight sets.
Tuesday Match
In Tuesday’s home game against the Vikings, the Bulldogs took the match to five games but in the end fell two sets to three. The Vikings took the first two sets by the scores of 25-13 and 25-14.
Coach Lane remarked, “We started off really slow and unsure. I suspected this going into our first game of the season. We were very unsure of ourselves and I believe nerves got the best of us.”
She went on to say that, “After we settled in, we started to pass a lot better which got our hitters into the game.” As a result the Bulldogs were victorious in both set three and four with identical scores of 25-23.
In the fifth set, according to Lane, the Bulldogs were playing too conservatively, playing not to make a mistake instead of being aggressive and playing to win. As a result, they lost 8-15.
Ella Holden led the team with eight kills during the match followed by Kady Grambow with seven and Libby Bygd with six. Setting them up was Chesney Leslie with 14 assists and Ava Olson with seven.
Defensively, it was Chrissa Kersten with nine digs followed by Holden with eight. Bygd led in blocks with one solo block and two block assits.
One aspect of their game that needs improving on is their service errors. Coach Lane noted that they had 11 missed serves, “That we cannot afford in ANY GAME, easy points for the other team.”
Thursday Match
On Thursday September 24, Boyceville traveled to Colfax for another chance at the Vikings, however the results were less than stellar as the Lady Dawgs fell in three straight sets, 17-25, 19-25 and 17-25.
According to Coach Lane her girls looked tired. She went on to say that they were not aggressive enough at the net, stating, “WE NEED TO ATTACK!!!” She concedds that in the end they did not come ready to play.
On a bright note, she observed that their libero, Mya Lagerstrom, is starting to look comfortable in her role and is hoping for some big games in the future from her. Lane also remains positive about the team, stating that after some rest over the weekend and some more nerves out of the way that the Buffaloes better watch out.
For their second match against the Vikings, Ella Holden once again led the team in kills with six. Kady Grambow and Libby Bygd each added four kills. Chesney Leslie and Ava Olson combined for 17 set assists. On defense, it was the libero, Lagerstrom, who led the way with 16 digs, followed by Grambow and Holden with eight a piece. Bygd once again had one solo block and two block assists for the match.
The Bulldogs (0-2) played the Mondovi Buffaloes away on Tuesday, September 29th and will host them on Thursday, October 1st. Hopefully, Elmwood/Plum City, who has had to cancel their matches the past two weeks, will be able to play when they are scheduled to come to Boyceville next Tuesday, October 6 while the Bulldogs will repay the visit on Thursday, October 8.