EV-W volleyball girls look good at DC Tournament

It was an action-packed Saturday, when the Eden Valley-Watkins volleyball team competed in the Dassel-Cokato Dodger Challenge, at D-C High School, on Sept. 28. The girls went 2-2 at the tournament.

EV-W started off playing Big Lake. On point 1, Lily Schultz went down with an ankle injury that took her out for the day, so Coach Maciej had to make some lineup adjustments. 

“We just didn’t take care of the ball on our side of the court. We let way too many easy balls drop and had too many errors at the net. It wasn’t the tone we wanted to start the day on,” said Coach Maciej. 

Big Lake ended up winning the tournament, losing only a set to White Bear Lake, the Eagles’ next opponent. WBL played well and EV-W was making a lot of the same errors as the game before. They needed more communication and energy but weren’t able to produce it. The Eagles did put up a much better fight in set 2, but one just can’t wait that long to get momentum going.

Final pool play of the game was Rockford. The EV-W girls started off looking still a little sluggish but finally started getting into a groove. Both the offense and defense had some fantastic plays and the energy was much better. They used that momentum to carry into the second set and were very in control of that game. Going 2-1 in pool play, the Eagles ended up the 3-seed and were matched-up with Melrose from the other pool. 

“We played Melrose at our HL-W-W tourney at the beginning of the season as well,” Coach Maciej added. 

EV-W started off hot and went on an 8-0 run to start the game. Set 2, the girls were playing too much “back and forth” and couldn’t get a long run going. They also were getting into sub trouble and were having some people play all the way around to save subs. 

“We ended up using 17/18 subs and won 24-26. I’m proud of the girls for finishing, especially after being down 24-23, commented Coach Maciej.

Overall, it was a good day. We had some highs and lows and definitely have areas where we saw growth, and areas that we will work on continuing to grow. I’m proud of the girls for turning the day around and getting our offense much more in system. I look forward to the week ahead, with playing NLS, a strong section opponent, and ACGC, which we hope to get a well-needed conference win – Coach Mickael Maciej.

Big Lake match

EV-W stats: Zoey Schmidt, serving 5-6, 1 ace, 12 digs; Alison Thielen, 3 digs; Brielle Bitzan, serving 4-5, 4 digs, 4 assists; Ella Anderson, 3 digs; Elan Kuechle, serving 10-10, 2 aces, 3 digs, 5 assists; Grace Brovold, serving 1-1, 4 kills, 3 digs; Emma Wirz, serving 3-5, 2 kills, 1 dig; Kendra Schutz, 3 kills, 1 dig; Ella Dockendorf, 1 dig; Cambel Hesse, serving 6-6, 1 ace, 5 digs; Paige Stommes, 1 kill.

White Bear Lake match

EV-W stats: Zoey Schmidt, serving 5-5, 2 aces, 1 assists, 10 digs; Brielle Bitzan, serving 6-6, 2 aces, 5 digs, 4 assists; Ella Anderson, serving 2-3, 1 dig; Elan Kuechle, serving 5-5, 8 digs, 5 assists; Grace Brovold, 6 kills; Emma Wirz, serving 3-4, 1 kill, 3 digs; Cambel Hesse, serving 2-2, 1 dig; Callie Hiltner, 1 kill, 2 digs; Kendra Schutz, 4 kills, 1 assist; Ella Dockendorf, 1 kill.

Rockford match

EV-W stats: Zoey Schmidt, -serving 4-4, 6 digs; Brielle Bitzan, serving 5-6, 1 kill, 3 digs, 6 assists; Ella Anderson, serving 8-8, 1 ace, 4 digs; Elan Kuechle, serving 4-4, 4 digs, 14 assists; Grace Brovold, serving 6-6, 2 aces, 8 kills, 2 digs; Emma Wirz, serving 4-5, 1 kill, 1 dig; Cambel Hesse, serving 12-13, 1 ace, 6 digs; Callie Hiltner, 2 kills, 1 dig; Kendra Schutz, 3 kills; Ella Dockendorf, 4 kills, 1 dig; Isabella Rausch, 4 kills, 2 digs.

Melrose match

EV-W stats: Zoey Schmidt, serving 4-5, 1 kill, 1 assist, 8 digs; Brielle Bitzan, serving 4-5, 1 ace, 1 kill, 10 digs, 3 assists; Ella Anderson, serving 3-3, 1 ace, 3 digs; Elan Kuechle, serving 4-5, 8 digs, 12 assists; Grace Brovold, serving 2-2, 5 kills, 2 digs; Emma Wirz, serving 1-3, 1 ace, 3 kills, 2 digs; Cambel Hesse, serving 18-18, 1 ace, 14 digs; Callie Hiltner, 2 kills; Kendra Schutz, 2 kills, 3 digs; Amara Boddy, serving 1-1; Ella Dockendorf, 2 kills; Isabella Rausch, 2 kills, 1 dig.