Miscues catch up with Warrior volleyball
Aly Feickert led the Warriors with 13 kills in the Oct. 13 loss to MFL MarMac. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Kristen Farmer chipped in eight assists in the game versus the Bulldogs.
Lexi Loan finished the game against MFL MarMac with 18 digs and 12 kills.
Tori Sylvester digs out a ball in the Oct. 13 game against the Bulldogs.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
It wasn’t the end to the regular season coach Kelly Erickson hoped for, as the Central volleyball team lost the final two games on the schedule to finish on a four-game losing streak heading into the first round of the playoffs. The Warriors finished the regular season 11-24 overall, while going 4-4 in Upper Iowa Conference play and finished fifth in the conference standings.
The first game of the week was an evenly matched back and forth game against South Winneshiek. Central pulled out a 25-21 victory in the first set, but lost the next two sets by the score of 25-19. The team managed to climb back into the match with a 25-21 fourth set victory, but lost the fifth 15-12.
The match came down to a few minor differences in statistics, like points, kills and errors, all of which were categories closely won by South Winn. Central scored a total of 100 points and finished with 43 kills, while South Winn scored 107 points and had the edge with 53 kills.
In terms of errors, which have plagued the Warriors throughout the season, they ended the game with 24 hitting errors, compared to South Winneshiek’s 22. South Winn also had more aces, with 12 to Central’s six. Adding to Central’s struggles were 47 dig errors and 12 serve receive errors as well.
Central was also hit late in the fifth set by a minor injury to Gracie Cummer, a key player who is second on the team in blocks and fourth in kills. Cummer landed on an opponent’s foot and twisted her ankle with just a few points left in the match.
Offensively, Lizzie Royer finished with 42 assists, and three players—Lexi Loan, Tori Sylvester and Cummer—compiled 32 of the team’s 43 total kills.
On defense, Central finished with three blocks, two from Sylvester and one by Aly Feickert. The team also recorded 117 digs, led by Sylvester with 31, Loan and Feickert with 24, Royer with 14 and Mackayla Vlazny with 12.
The six aces hit by Central were from Sylvester, who hit three, and Royer, Katelyn Scherf and Feickert, who each hit one. The team finished with a 93 percent serve efficiency.
“Overall, I was very pleased with how we played. We won the first one, and after losing the next two sets, we didn’t give up. We kept playing well. Just a few too many errors cost us the match, and when you play a team that is so closely matched, we have to cut down on our mistakes,” Erickson said.
In the Oct. 13 game against the MFL MarMac, errors once again led to trouble for the Warriors in key categories, such as hitting errors, where the Warriors outpaced the Bulldogs 28 to 16. The Warriors also had nine serve receive errors and 26 digging errors, and even missed 10 serves, which was something they hadn’t done all season. The errors led to the Warriors losing the match 3-1, only able to pull out a win in set two.
Erickson summed the match up succinctly, stating, “They were able to find our holes and put the ball there.”
Feickert led the team on offense and defense, with 13 kills and 23 digs, while Loan finished with 18 digs and 12 kills. Royer was responsible for 34 of the team’s 42 assists and Kristen Farmer chipped in eight.
Brooklyn Amsden stepped into the middle hitter spot for the injured Cummer, finishing with six kills and three digs. Sylvester added two blocks, six kills and 19 digs to the stat line, while Vlazny and Scherf each had 10 digs.
From the service line, the Warriors hit 10 aces, led by Loan with three. Farmer, Sylvester and Feickert picked up two. The Warriors had an 88.9 percent serve efficiency.
The Warriors traveled to Starmont on Oct. 17, for a Class 1A - Region 6 first round playoff match. Details from that game will be in next week’s paper.
