Amherst volleyball wins in four sets

AMHERST-The Amherst Falcons hosted the Iola-Scandinavia Thunderbirds in a Central Wisconsin Conference volleyball matchup on Sept. 8.

The Falcons took an early 11-5 lead in the first set as Alexis Wierzba scored on an ace to give Amherst the six-point lead.

Wierzba went down with an injury early in the match, as her teammates were asked to step up. “Lexi, she’s getting a lot of kills for us. She’s a really dominant player, so it sucks, but we have a deep bench, and we have people who can step up,” said Ivy Boelk

Rachel Portman extended the Amherst lead with a kill to make the score 17-9 late in the opening set.

The Thunderbirds closed the gap on the scoreboard as they got within two points, but the Falcons regained momentum as Boelk finished the set with a kill and made the score 25-20.

In the second set, Iola went up 18-16 over Amherst before Ava Dambroski’s serving tied the game at 18-18.

Iola regained the lead and got up 24-20 as a spike by the Thunderbirds went out of bounds, and they went up 25-20.

In the third set, Amherst got off to a quick start as they went up 15-6 after a Thunderbirds’ scoring attempt went into the net.

The Falcons continued to dominate the set, and a serve went over the back line and gave Amherst a 25-13 win.

In a back-and-forth set, the Falcons gained control in the fourth to go up 23-18. A kill by Boelk finished off the fourth set as they won 25-19.