Manawa volleyball team hosts Parents’ Night
By Corrie Ziemer
Manawa’s volleyball team hosted Amherst Sept. 29 for its Parents Night matches.
Parents were honored and thanked in a short presentation before the varsity match.
Through missed serves and poor receiving, the Wolves gave the Falcons too many points throughout the match. Amherst took advantage of Manawa’s errors and was able to win the match in three sets.
Manawa took an early 5-2 lead in the first game, but then allowed the Falcons’ third and fourth servers to put multiply offensive points on the board. Amherst went up 16-6 and although Manawa was able to limit the Falcons’ offensive points after that, the Wolves were not able to put any runs together and could not overcome the large deficit. Amherst won the first set 25-15.
The second set was played much closer than the first. The teams battled back and forth, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead until the score was 11-9 in favor of Amherst. On the side out, Amherst earned a rally point and four more points to take a 16-9 lead.
At 19-12, Carlee Zander stepped up to serve for Manawa. With solid serving and good offensive play from her team, the Wolves rallied to cut the lead to 19-15. This would be the closest they would come toward the end of the set, however, as Amherst won 25-19.
It looked like Manawa might battle back and take the match to a fourth game. The teams stayed close in the third set until the score was 13-11 in Amherst’s favor. On the side out, Amherst rallied to 21. The momentum from that run was enough to help Amherst finish the set and match 25-14.
Claire Kreklow led the Wolves with nine kills and she also had three assists. Haley Reierson and Zander had the second most points with four each, while Harmony Rice had 1.5; Sophie Forbes and Ellen Field each had one; and Chloe Koehn had 0.5.
Setter Mandy Krueger was the assist leader with nine, while Forbes had the most digs with 10. Kreklow and Reierson each had eight. JorjaRose Brennan was the only 100-percent server for the night. She was nine-for-nine.
In their second match of the week, the Wolves traveled to Brillion Oct. 1 to face the always competitive Lions. Though Brillion won the match in three sets, the Wolves played some really good volleyball. Koehn led the way in points (eight) and digs (13).
Brillion took an early lead in the very first set. The Lions’ second server put seven points on the board, giving the Wolves any early 10-1 hurdle to overcome.
Manawa tried to fight back. Kreklow served five points in a row and Reierson followed her with a run of eight. These rallies brought the Wolves back within four at 19-15. Neither team allowed their opponent many offensive points in the final moments of the set and, because of their early lead, Brillion was able to finish the set, 25-17.
The second set was the closest of the night, with Manawa leading until Brillion tied it at 6-6. Brillion went up 12-6. Manawa slowly fought back to come within three, but never led in the set again. Brillion took the game 25-22.
Manawa fought hard right out of the gate in the third game, as Reierson put three immediate points on the board, including an ace, and the Wolves continued to rally after that. They led right up until the score was 12-10.
The teams then tied the score at 14. Two servers were able to put three offensive points on the board late in the set for Brillion, which allowed the Lions to finish the set and match 25-18.
Zander had seven points, including two blocks; Kreklow had 6.5 points; Rice had 1.5; and Reierson one. Krueger led in the assist column with four, Reierson had 11 digs, Kreklow had eight and Forbes and Brennan had seven each.
Kreklow was the lead server for the night at 12-for-12, while Brennan was seven-for-seven and Alissa Suehs was one-for-one.
• Corrie Ziemer coaches the Manawa varsity volleyball team.