Colfax sweeps Plum City, beats Durand to open conference volleyball season unbeaten

By Cara L. Dempski

After enjoying a week off that included a bye in the Dunn-St. Croix’s opening round of volleyball action September 15, the Colfax Vikings hit the hardwood refreshed as they demolished a pair of conference foes to start its conference season with wins.

The Lady Vikings earned a home sweep over Plum City this past Tuesday and followed it up two days later with a three sets to one road victory against the Panthers of Durand.

Unfortunately, Colfax could not keep the momentum going when it lost to Boyceville and host Cameron at the Comets’ Invitational on Saturday, September 24.

The Vikings, currently 2-0 in conference play and 11-9 overall, hosted Dunn-St. Croix co-leader Boyceville Bulldogs last evening (September 27). The Bulldogs along with Mondovi hold a half game lead over Colfax, who will travel to Spring Valley on Thursday, September 29 for what will be a tough match against the 2-1 Cardinals. The Vikings will stay on the road to face rival Elk Mound in an October 4 match.

Plum City

Colfax welcomed the Plum City Blue Devils to its home court September 20 with a three-set sweep. The Vikings downed the Blue Devils 25-15, 25-13 and 25-18.

Freshman Kameri Meredith landed a team-leading 10 attacks against Plum City and Rachel Scharlau added eight to her record to account for nearly half the Vikings’ kills on September 20. Making up the rest of the team’s attacks were Jozie and Bryana Buchanan, Savannah Henricks, Makayla Mattson and Samantha Pretasky.

Jozie Buchanan provided 30 of the team’s 34 assists, setting up the majority of the kills. Older sister Bryana took top honors for digs, turning away 13 Plum City attacks.

Megan Schleusner and Alyssa Dachel foiled seven attacks each, while Jozie Buchanan logged six digs in the match. Henricks, Mattson, Pretasky, Scharlau and Mady Decker recorded 11 more digs for the team.

Durand

The Vikings took a road trip to Durand on September 22 and came away with a 3-1 win over the Panthers.

Coach Meredith said the team committed 11 hitting errors and had three missed serves – along with multiple dropped balls – in the 26-24 loss in the first set. The team improved from there to take the next three sets 25-13, 25-17 and 25-17.

“It was a great effort by the players to put the first set behind them and step on the court for set two and play more disciplined,” Meredith said.

Makayla Mattson led the kill count for the night, landing 17 on the Panthers, while freshman Samantha Pretasky was not far behind with 14 kills. Pretasky also logged two solo blocks and three block assists.

Freshman Kameri Meredith and Rachel Scharlau each put up another 10 kills to make a strong attack from the Vikings’ side of the net.

Jozie Buchanan again led the team with assists, recording 47 for the night. Her sister, Bryana, took 23 digs and served up four aces.

Senior Megan Schleusner added another four aces to the team total, and Savannah Henricks put up one solo block and assisted on a further three blocks.

Meredith said after the game, “As a team, we finished with 15 aces and eight serving errors.”

She added that even with the errors, she is pleased since the team is trying to put up tough serves to push their opponents out of system.

Cameron Invitational

There were limited results available at press time for the tournament at Cameron High School. The Vikings lost to Boyceville 1-2 and lost to Cameron 1-2. No other information was available at press time, and the full story will be presented in the October 5 edition of the Messenger.