Okoboji traveled to the Spencer Early Bird Invite last evening with our varsity squad ending the night with a 2-1 record.
We started out the night in pool play against a solid Algona team. You could tell both teams had the “first match jitters” to begin but once we got rolling those started to wear off. Algona ran a faster tempo offense, which we adjusted to well. We ended up losing the contest in two, 15-21, 18-21, mostly in part to our own errors between missed serves and lack of communication, which is uncharacteristic of this group. I chalked it up to it being the first match of the season as we had better communication throughout the night. I was pleased with how Alexa Christoffels dished the ball out as all of our attackers had kills. Our serve receive game was on point allowing us to run a quicker offense ourselves.
Following our contest with Algona, we wrapped up pool play against South O’Brien. We let them go on a few early runs in each set, but eventually overcame them and won the match 21-18, 15. I was proud of the team as in years past we haven’t always been able to rally back when we get behind 5 or so points. Celeste DeVos had 6 kills in the match on 13 swings with only two errors as she ran a faster ball on the outside and was able to beat the block or at least hit the seam in the block most times.
After pool play wrapped up, we ended up being the 2nd place team and took on HMS in a very back and forth match, especially during the 2nd set. You could tell both teams were HOT (no AC in that gym) and were wearing down overall. We were able to capitalize on HMS’ errors in the first set winning 21-14, but as I said, the 2nd set was much tighter at 22-20. We let ourselves get into a see-saw with them due to our missed serves and unforced errors of being in the net. We know we can control both and just need to continue to work on those little things as a team. Harper Rabel and Grace Leman did an excellent job for us as middles in this match, with Harper having 5 kills and Grace having 6. We couldn’t get those numbers though if we didn’t have great passers in the back row that really stepped up their game when it came to free ball passing.
Algona would end up winning the tournament by beating Manson NW Webster.
A few stats from the entire night – all three matches combined:
Alexa Christoffels – 41 assists
Riley Meyer – 9 digs
Celeste DeVos – 15 kills
Harper Rabel – 12 kills on 20 swings and only 2 errors
Grace Leman – 12 kills, 6 aces
