Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
Thursday evening, Bluejay volleyball hit the road for a visit with the Wausau-West Warriors, looking to capitalize on their WVC debut victory over D.C Everest last week. The Warriors on the other hand were in search of their first conference win of the season, after falling to defending conference champs Stevens Point.
Unfortunately for the Bluejay girls, the pendulum would swing in favor of the home-court Warriors 1-3.
Following a back and forth start, the Jays took control midway through the first set; topping West 25-18. The blue and gold responded with a 25-18 triumph of their own in the second set then followed up with a bruising 25-12 third set. Despite a hard fought effort, Merrill was unable to tie it up and fell 22-25 in the fourth.
“We came out hot in set one with blocking and hitting,” comments Bluejay Head Volleyball Coach Kristi Krug.
“Everything was going our way and we were looking good. We started set two by being up 4-0 and then we made some mental mistakes and let them back in. We stopped talking and lost some easy points to lose that set. Game three was brutal as we lost it 25-12. Now in set four we made some good plays but couldn’t get any runs in place. We missed 10 serves all night which didn’t help matters, but we need to play with intensity for longer periods of time and again find a way to terminate the ball. By Saturday afternoon we will have a pretty good idea if we have a chance at being at the top of the conference or not. It a big day and we need to play at a much higher level than we showed tonight.”
Junior setter Kelly Page paced the Bluejay offense with 13 kills, complemented by another 11 from senior setter Ellie Hartson. Senior middle hitter Reese Mrachek finished with four kills on the night, respectively. While the ladies struggled a bit at the net, they were solid in protecting the floor; posting 72 digs on the night.
Junior Libero Rachel Travis (19); Page (18) and Hartson (11) accounted for over half of the team total. Olivia and Hannah Losee added 8 and 5 digs,. respectively.
As Coach Krug alluded to, Saturday will be a big day for the Jays as they head to Marshfield for the first Wisconsin Valley Conference meet of the year. The ladies currently stand tied for third with Marshfield at 1-1 in the WVC, behind SPASH (3-0) and Wausau-East (2-0). Meet time is set for 9 a.m. at the Marshfield High School Field House.