The Guardian Angels Central Catholic Bluejays are 2-1 in their last three matches, falling 3-0 at Crofton last Thursday night before downing David City Aquinas 3-1 on the road Monday night, and Norfolk Catholic 3-0 on the road this past Tuesday night.
The Warriors defeated the Bluejays 25-17 in the first set, 25-20 in the second set, and 25-16 in the third set.
Maddie Knobbe had 10 kills and 9 digs while Kali Stratman added 10 digs and 17 set assists. Ally Plagge and Allie Knobbe notched 8 and 7 digs, respectively.
The Bluejays won set one over the Monarchs 25-16 before dropping set two 25-23. GACC took set three 25-22 and set four 25-16 to close out the match.
Head Coach Kate Hagemann says her team played pretty well.
"I was pretty happy with our overall play. I was a little frustrated we let set two get away. We've just had some of those sets lately where we get to 22, we get to 23, and we're just not able to finish. And postseason we want to be able to get that cleaned up, but I thought we kind of overcame some mental hurdles there in set three. We got down by 1 there late in the game, and then we're able to score three or four straight to finish the set."
Maddie Knobbe paced the Bluejays with 29 kills and 12 digs. Stratman totaled 12 digs and 33 set assists. Allie Knobbe posted 8 digs while Plagge recorded 7.
GACC downed the Knights 25-14 in set one, 25-9 in set two, and 25-18 in set three.
Maddie Knobbe finished with 14 kills while Plagge and Allie Knobbe registered 14 and 7 digs, respectively. Stratman dished out 25 set assists.
The Bluejays appeared to get back on track some this week. Hopefully for GACC they can get on a roll heading into sub districts.
The Bluejays (12-9) take on Wayne (18-9) in the first round of the Mid-State Conference Tournament in Pierce on Monday.
The Blue Devils downed GACC 3-1 at home on September 13th. Wayne won 3-1 at home over Lutheran High Northeast last time out on Thursday.
The Blue Devils are a very strong team, and it's going to take the Bluejays' best effort and then some for GACC to come out on top.
The Bluejays definitely have a tough draw and their work cut out for them.
This conference is tough just like any other year, and GACC is still a quality team that is capable of knocking off anyone they play in this tournament.
It would be nice from the Bluejays' standpoint to gain some consistency.
GACC has been kind of up and down this year, and every time it looks like they're getting on track and getting ready to go on a winning streak, they have a hiccup or two.
Time is running out for the Bluejays to be a consistently good team.
GACC is definitely capable of getting on a big winning streak, and riding that momentum to state, but the Bluejays have to start playing the way they can.
The field is stacked in this conference tournament. There aren't going to be any gimmie matches for GACC, at least in the winners' bracket.
With that said, I look for the Bluejays to build off of this week's wins and have a good showing on Monday and throughout the rest of this tournament.
I wouldn't be surprised if GACC challenged for the championship or found a way to win it.
It's that time of year where the Bluejays are looking to play their best Volleyball, and perhaps GACC is starting to do that just a little bit.
Maddie Knobbe, Stratman, Plagge, and Allie Knobbe need to keep doing what they've been doing for the Bluejays.
These four have played very well for and led GACC lately, and their contributions have meant everything to this team.
Monday's match is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m. in Pierce.
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