The Howells-Dodge Volleyball Team beat Oakland-Craig 3-0 at home Thursday night before losing 2-0 to Clarkson/Leigh and Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, but beating Cross County 2-1 at the Clarkson/Leigh Tournament on Saturday, and losing 3-1 at Stanton Tuesday night.
The Jaguars won set one 25-19, set two 25-20, and set three 25-23 over the Knights.
Head Coach Neil VanLengen says the two teams are similar, but different at the same time. "They're a lot like us. They're just inexperienced. We got a little bit more size than they do, but both teams scrappy. I mean they're a defensive team. We should be a little more offensive at times. They're pry a little bit better defensively, and it showed. We hit the ball harder...they played better defense. And that's what we talked all night is we got to get in position, make plays defensively, cause we knew they were going to tip, hit balls off the block. We're working hard on our blockers getting our hands over the net. Just too many balls came down on our side on our block."
Jessi Brester led the Jaguars with 15 kills while Macey Kulhanek and Erin Prusa had 8 apiece. Kulhanek chipped in 22 digs while Taya VanLengen and Grace Kreikemeier had 12 and 8, respectively. Alyssa Coufal totaled 18 set assists while Lexie Brester registered 14.
The Cougars took set one 25-16 before Howells-Dodge won set two 25-17, and set three 26-24.
Prusa and Madyson Cech put down 7 kills apiece while Kulhanek and VanLengen recorded 19 and 13 digs, respectively. Coufal added 18 set assists while Lexie Brester notched 9.
The Bulldogs downed the Jaguars 25-17 in the first set, and 25-23 in the second set.
VanLengen posted 13 digs while Coufal and Lexie Brester dished out 9 set assists, respectively.
The Patriots topped Howells-Dodge 25-16 in set one, and 25-21 in set two.
Kulhanek compiled 13 digs with VanLengen and Jessi Brester added 10 and 8, respectively. Coufal chipped in 7 set assists.
The Mustangs rolled in sets one and two, winning set one 25-12, and set two 25-7. The Jaguars won set three 25-22 before Stanton grabbed set four 25-19.
Prusa led the way with 11 kills while Kulhanek registered 14 digs. VanLengen added 7 digs while Coufal and Lexie Brester contributed 14 and 11 set assists, respectively.
I thought Howells-Dodge really cranked things up at the tail end of the Stanton match. If the Jaguars play like they did in sets three and four in that match they are going to be tough to beat the rest of the season, in my opinion.
Howells-Dodge (11-8) takes on Clarkson/Leigh (15-5) in their first game of the Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Tournament on Saturday.
The Patriots lost 2-0 to Lutheran High Northeast, but beat Shelby/Rising City 2-0 at the Lutheran High Northeast Triangular Tuesday night.
Clarkson/Leigh is a very tough team, but if the Jaguars play the way they did against Stanton in the last two sets, then they can definitely upset the Patriots.
Howells-Dodge has to start fast and act like they want to be there though.
If the Jaguars play the way they did in the first two sets against the Mustangs they are more than likely going to lose in straight sets to Clarkson/Leigh.
Stanton is a great team, but Howells-Dodge is better than what they showed in the first two sets of that match.
The Jaguars are a young team, I understand that, but Howells-Dodge has to come out and be ready to play from the start on Saturday.
The season started out so promising for the Jaguars, but Howells-Dodge has been scuffling the last two weeks or so.
The Jaguars started the year 9-2, but have dropped 6 out of their last 8, so something needs to change quickly for Howells-Dodge.
This is a tough tournament, and the Jaguars are going to have to bring their "A" game to do well I would say.
Clarkson/Leigh is an established good team this year as are the host Bulldogs so Howells-Dodge needs to be ready to bring it.
The Jaguars are definitely capable of beating the Patriots, they just need to be on top of their game.
Howells-Dodge has the potential to go a run here at the end of the regular season, in my opinion, but the Jaguars have to start playing up to their capability.
The road is tough with this tournament, the East Husker Conference Tournament next week, and then North Bend Central and Tekamah-Herman the week after that, but to be the best you have to beat the best, and that certainly applies to Howells-Dodge.
This young team has now had almost a full season to grow and mature, and so you would hope to see some growth and maturity on the floor at this point in the season.
Perhaps the way this team played at the end of the Stanton match will carry over into Saturday's matches.
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