The Howells-Dodge Volleyball Team is 2-4 in their last 6 matches, beating Twin River and losing to North Bend Central 2-0 at the East Husker Conference Tournament last Thursday night at North Bend, losing 2-0 to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family and 2-1 to Tekamah-Herman at the Tournament at Logan View on Saturday, and then losing 3-0 at home to North Bend Central Tuesday night, before topping Tekamah-Herman 3-2 at home Thursday night.
The Jaguars defeated the Titans 25-14 in set one, and 25-15 in set two.
Jessi Brester had 10 kills while Macey Kulhanek and Taya VanLengen notched 12 and 7 digs, respectively. Alyssa Coufal added 16 set assists.
In the first matchup between the two teams, North Bend Central took the first set 25-12, and the second set 25-19.
Coufal totaled 9 set assists.
The Bulldogs claimed set one 26-24, and set two 25-18.
VanLengen registered 10 kills and 9 digs while Kulhanek and Grace Kreikemeier registered 9 and and 7 digs, respectively. Coufal chipped in 24 set assists.
In the first matchup with Tekamah-Herman, the Jaguars won set one 25-23 before the Tigers won set two 25-19, and set three 25-14.
Erin Prusa put down 9 kills while Kulhanek had 14 digs. Coufal compiled 9 digs and 21 set assists.
In the second match with North Bend Central, the Tigers took sets one and two 25-21, and set three 25-19.
Brester led Howells-Dodge with 8 kills. Grace Dvorak notched 7 blocks while Kulhanek posted 16 digs. VanLengen contributed 8 digs while Coufal dished out 19 set assists.
Head Coach Neil VanLengen says his team got off to a slow start. "Our serve receive really broke down. Especially early in each set it was just awful how poorly we passed to start off each set. That got us behind the eight ball. And then we battled back. But we got to figure out a way to come out early, pass the ball, side out. Get into a side out game, side out side out, and then make it time to get after it and score some points."
Van Lengen says his girls put up a good fight. "They made a few mistakes, they helped us out, but towards the end of the game there I said I'm sure they're going to say they didn't play well. But we made them play not well. Our blocking, 11 blocks, that's a big number against that team, and that takes them out of their game."
In the second matchup with Tekamah-Herman, the Tigers won set one 25-15. The Jaguars won set two 25-19 and set three 27-25. Tekamah-Herman took set four 25-12 before Howells-Dodge claimed set five 15-12.
VanLengen led the way with 15 kills and 17 digs while Prusa had 11 kills and 7 digs. Brester recorded 10 kills and 9 digs while Dvorak posted 8 kills. Kulhanek managed 22 digs while Coufal notched 10 digs and 38 set assists. Tonya Brester added 7 digs.
The win over Tekamah-Herman was big. I would say the Jaguars are starting to regain some form.
Howells-Dodge (14-14) takes on Pender (5-21) and West Point-Beemer (16-11) at the Pender Triangular Tuesday night.
The Pendragons lost 3-0 at home to BRLD Tuesday night while the Cadets beat Boone Central/Newman Grove 3-1 at home Tuesday night.
This should be an intriguing triangular, at least when the Jaguars play West Point-Beemer.
Howells-Dodge shouldn't have much trouble beating Pender, but the Jaguars still have to come ready to play in that match.
The Cadets topped Howells-Dodge 3-2 at Howells-Dodge on August 31st. This is the 1st meeting of the season between the Jaguars and Pendragons.
Howells-Dodge has to continue to build on what they did last week, and turn in two good performances prior to subdistricts.
It's likely the Jaguars will play Lutheran High Northeast in Subdistricts, and the C2-4 Subdistrict will be a challenging one for sure.
The winner of Howells-Dodge and LHNE will play have to defending state champion Stanton, and that won't be an easy matchup whatsoever.
It definitely won't be easy for the Jaguars to win either match, especially against the Mustangs, because Howells-Dodge would have to play a second best of five set match on the same night.
The Jaguars have to use these last two regular season matches to prepare themselves for the postseason.
A postseason run may not be in the cards for Howells-Dodge this year, but you can bet the Jaguars will give the Eagles their best shot.
LHNE beat Howells-Dodge 3-0 in Norfolk on September 19th, and the Jaguars definitely won't have an easy time beating the Eagles in the postseason.
First things first though, Howells-Dodge has to focus on winning Tuesday's Triangular.
In the West Point-Beemer match, it's experienced talent vs. young talent.
That match against the Cadets should be really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment