Bluejay Girls Varsity Volleyball
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Thursday, Sept. 9, the Merrill Girls Varsity Volleyball Team played SPASH on the Panthers’ home court. The Lady Jays put the Panthers through their paces and came away with a 3-1 win.
“I was so impressed with the way we came out in the first set tonight,” Coach Kris Krug said. “Everybody was talking, we made all of our serves, and we were flowing together – it was like we couldn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then, after awhile, you could see SPASH was starting to take advantage of a few open spots we had, and then we started struggling to make a play,” she said. “Little by little, we let them back into the match on our own accord. Several times we were down, once even by seven points, but we kept battling back to finish the game. That was something we couldn’t do at the beginning of the season. You can tell our underclassmen are gaining confidence, and they are only going to be getting better.”
“Our seniors were solid tonight. Molly is making less mistakes and swinging big. Dani controlled the back row like no other and both Olivia and McKenna ran like clockwork – they know exactly what to do in their positions. I have so much confidence in our back row right now, as they keep us in every play. Avery and Emma also played a lot better on defense tonight, which was something we’ve been working on a lot in practice.”
“Finally, McKenna Meyer had a great game,” Krug said. “They just couldn’t stop her. When she starts to connect with the ball, she’s going to be a force to reckon with.”
Box Score
Merrill 3 @ SPASH 1
“We are coming off a tournament at UW-Whitewater, having learned a lot. We had a week of having very productive practices,” Coach Kris Krug said.
At the meet against Wausau East on Thursday, Sept. 2, “you could tell how excited the girls were for their first home match,” she said. “It was great to see our fans and student section back; the energy in the gym was much higher than last year.”
“However, when we got out there, it seemed like we struggled to harness the energy in the gym,” Krug said. “Our communication wasn’t there, we let balls drop, and we missed way too many serves in the first set.”
“I don’t think we were expecting Wausau East to be a solid blocking team, but they were,” she said. “Fortunately, after the first set, we did a pretty good job reading through the net and making smarter plays. Once we were able to get in a groove, we did a better job of getting the ball to the setter, and the setter did a good job moving the ball around. This young team is only going to get better with every match we play.”
Box Score
Wausau East 0 @ Merrill 3