TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, the Merrill Varsity Girls Volleyball Team had their second Conference match, their home opener, and parent night. “Going into it, we knew it would be a big night for us playing against Marshfield,” Assistant Coach Kasie Holt said.
“The first set we came out playing shaky and conservative. We missed a couple of crucial serves and struggled to get a good pass to our setters to run our offense.”
“However, in the second set we started putting up some big blocks to slow down Marshfield’s hitters and we were reading their defense better to get some kills,” she said. “When we were on, we were on, and you could feel the energy in the fieldhouse.”
“The crowd was awesome and our student section really showed up!” Holt said.
“Marshfield is a good team, with a seasoned outside that we struggled to defend.”
“In the end, the scoreboard showed a loss for us,” Holt said, “but the girls played hard, gave it their all, and celebrated every point – that is something to be proud of.
“We learned a lot and we will be ready for when we get to play them again near the end of our season,” she added.
Box Score:
Marshfield @ Merrill – 3-0
25-11; 25-22; 25-18

The Merrill Varsity Girls Volleyball Team traveled to Wisconsin Rapids on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. “Tonight was our first Conference match. We were on the road at Wisconsin Rapids, and we came out winning 3-0,” Merrill Varsity Girls Head Volleyball Coach Kristi Krug said.
“It was a good win for us to start the Conference season.”
“Even though it was a win, the game still showed us things that we need to work on, like communication,” Krug said. “In the beginning, we started off a little slow with our passing, but by the end, I felt like we were able to run our offense pretty efficiently.”
“Our serving was aggressive and consistent as we served with 92% accuracy. Jalie Severt led us serving with three aces.”
“We were also able to score a lot of points on serve receive by being able to run our offense,” Krug said. “Middle hitter, Chloe McRae, was our leading scorer with 10 kills, and close behind her was our other middle hitter, Elexa Emmer, with 7 kills.”
“Overall, I was happy with the way we played. We’ve seen recently in other matches that we don’t play to our full potential, but we stepped it up tonight and did just that.”
Box Score:
Merrill @ Wisconsin Rapids – 3-0
25-14; 25-12; 25-18