The Merrill volleyball team pulled out a tough road win in Eau Claire last Tuesday, but their return to Valley play was spoiled by a strong performance from D.C. Everest.
The Evergreens pulled into a first-place tie with the Bluejays at 6-1 on the first match of the second half of the WVC schedule. D.C.E. pulled out a narrow 25-22, 25-17, 25-27, 25-23 victory.
“We came out a little flat tonight,” MHS coach Kris Krug said. “However, we showed some resolve and came back in awesome fashion to take the third game 27-25. The fourth game we fell to a deficit of 13-4. The girls fought back, but just couldn’t pull it out and lost 25-23.
“In the end, D.C. Everest came to play tonight and we just couldn’t quite put things together – just too many errors. It was disappointing, but we have to look ahead to our last conference games. We have a lot to work on in the upcoming weeks.”
Producing for the Jays were: Anna Finnell (13 kills, 6 digs); Emily Page (3 k, 2 aces, 36 assists, 6 d); Morgan Wardall (9 k, 2 blocks, 7 d); Maddix Bonnell (5 k, 15 d); Rylee Folz (5 k, 3 bl, 4 d); Katie Zelinski (6 k, 4 bl); Chey Pyka (12 d); Ali Zamzow (4 d).
Trimming the Huskies
The Bluejays opened with a tight 26-24 win, fell 25-20, but rebounded with 25-23 and 25-19 sets to jump to 23-6 on the season.
“Eau Claire North proved to be a reputable opponent tonight,” Krug said. “They were aggressive, scrappy, and forced us to earn our points. Anna Finnell was on the attack tonight with 15 kills and Katie Zelinski followed with 12.
“We needed this win as E.C. North is in our sectional and we wanted to fine-tune our game for the upcoming rematch against Valley rival D.C. Everest.”
Production was turned in by: Finnell (15 kills, 5 digs); Zelinski (12 k, 3 d); Page (41 assists, 12 d); Marnholtz (2 ac, 24 d); Zamzow (2 ac, 21 d); Wardall (7 k, 3 bl, 3 d); Folz (11 k); Bonnell (17 d); Pyka (12 d).
The Bluejays (23-7 overall) host Wausau West (1-6, 5-18) on Thursday and the WVC #2 will be held in the MHS Fieldhouse beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Merrill plays Marshfield (4-2, 12-6), SPASH (4-3, 13-9) and Wausau East (2-5, 8-17).