Lady Vikings fare well at home quad, Menomonie Sprawl

By Cara L. Dempski

If Colfax’s varsity volleyball team was looking for a positive start to the 2017 season, it certainly got one last week.

The Lady Vikings kicked off the season with a quad at home August 22 and walked away with a 3-0 record after defeating Unity 25-18 and 25-21, Baldwin-Woodville 25-22 and 25-9, and Plum City 25-14 and 25-12.

Head coach Pam Meredith and the Colfax ladies then took their game to UW-Stout August 25 and 26 for tournament play. The Vikings brought home a 3-4 record after two days of competition at Johnson Fieldhouse as part of the Menomonie Sprawl.

The Vikings ended their week with a 6-4 record.

 They played a non-conference contest at Bloomer August 29. Colfax will take Labor Day weekend off before heading to Somerset September 7.

Colfax quad

Volleyball teams of Western Wisconsin, beware: irritate Colfax hitter Kameri Meredith at your own peril.

There was a moment in the Vikings’ August 22 match-up against the Unity Eagles when no matter what the Colfax girls tried, the Eagles had a response. Finally, out of what looked like a combination of frustration and annoyance, Meredith drilled the ball in an attack that went unanswered on the other side of the net for the point.

It was one of a number of highlights of the Vikings’ 3-0 sweep of their home quad that night. 

While the Colfax squad swept the evening’s play, coach Pam Meredith saw some adjustments that needed to be made before playing again.

“We still have some work to do in our decision-making process, our ability to sustaint our energy throughout, and our focus,” she explained.

Colfax defeated Unity 25-18 and 25-21 to take the match before scraping together a 25-22 win over Baldwin-Woodville in the first game prior to blasting the Blackhawks 25-9 in the second. The Lady Vikings took on the Plum City Blue Devils in their final match, and defeated their conference foe 25-14 and 25-12 to take the top record of the night.

Kameri Meredith led the Vikings’ offense with 20 kills for the evening; her classmate, Samantha Pretasky, logged 19 kills to start her season, and is credited with a trio of solo blocks. Makayla and Rachel Scharlau combined for 23 scoring attacks (13 for Makayla and 10 for Rachel), and Savannah Henricks drilled in eight.

Sophomore Jozie Buchanan provided 60 assists, 28 digs, and eight aces, and Alyssa Dachel – who wore the libero’s jersey for all three matches – recorded 18 digs.

Menomonie Sprawl

Many prep sports coaches follow a philosophy of testing their teams against tough opponents early in the season to prepare them for strong competition.

Colfax’s head volleyball coach, Pam Meredith, seems to agree with this train of thought. Only a few days after hosting a quad at home last Tuesday, the Lady Vikings hit the courts at UW-Stout’s Johnson Fieldhouse as one of nearly three dozen teams competing at the 2017 Menomonie Sprawl.

The Colfax squad finished Friday’s competition with a 2-2 record after defeating Athens 2-0 (25-23, 26-24) and Ellsworth 2-1 (25-22, 25-18 and 15-8) before dropping matches to Barron 0-2 (25-19 and 30-28) and River Falls 0-2 (25-7, 25-17).

The Friday record landed the Vikings in the silver pool, the second pool out of four, for Saturday where the team started with a 2-1 win over the Menomonie Mustangs 25-23, 26-24 and 15-9) to move on to the next round. Colfax dropped its final two matches to Eau Claire Memorial (30-28, 25-8) and Oshkosh’s Lourdes High School (25-21, 25-20).

Sophomore Kameri Meredith led the Viking offense with 44 kills, 52 aces, and 16 service points, while Makayla Mattson drilled 27 kills, logged 32 aces, and had 16 service points. Libero Alyssa Dachel led the team with 53 aces, and took 65 digs to lead the back-row defense.

Mattson and Emma Hurlburt tied as leaders for solo blocks with four apiece.