By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON-The Jaguar volleyball team has hit their stride at the end of the season. The Jaguars took on the Green Bay Southwest Trojans and made quick work of their counterparts (25-18, 25-20, 25-18).
The Jaguars were led by Maddie Koch who had thirteen kills, three blocks, and two aces. Maddie Crowley had 10 digs, and Maria Scherer led the way with ball distribution (14 assists).
The Jaguars built a comfortable lead in the opening set at 16-9, and went up by double digits 20-10 after Megan Servais took a nice feed from Scherer to put the kill away. The Trojans never got the margin under six the rest of the way in game one, and the Jaguars captured the first 25-18.
In game two, Crowley started off with a kill to set the tone early for the Jaguars as they built their lead up to 5-1. The Trojans battled back and went on a huge ten to four run to take the lead at 11-9. The Jaguars didn’t panic. They wanted to get the ball to Koch and Crowley for put away shots towards the latter part of the game and that’s exactly what they did. At 17 all, libero Alyssa Bath fed an assist to the end-line for Koch to belt away on the Trojans end. That was followed up by three Trojan miscues into the net. It was all the Jaguars needed to take set two by a final of 25-20.
The Jaguars didn’t want the Trojans hanging around for a set four or five, and they quickly got to work in game three by digging the ball well off Trojan kill shots. Allison Nitti, Emilie Pludeman, and Shaun Berry all stepped up for the Jaguars to keep the possession and point alive as they built leads of 12-8 and 16-11 in the pivotal game. Towards the end, the Jaguars used some push heaves as the Trojans were sending multiple girls to the net to try and block Crowley and Koch’s kills. It worked. The middle of the Trojans court was wide open. The Jaguars got the valuable points they needed down the stretch to close the match out 25-18, and complete the sweep.
The Jaguars improve to 15-15 overall and 3-3 in FRCC action.
Coach Wierschke, “Every player was a contributing factor to the win. Though it may not have been our hardest W to get, it was a calming reminder that the girls are able to take a win in three sets and play with any player on this team next to them.”
