The Oakland-Craig Volleyball team avenged an early season loss to Pender Thursday night, sweeping the Pendragons 3-0 at home. Oakland-Craig then downed Logan View 2-0, but lost 2-0 to Fremont Bergan at the Logan View Triangular Tuesday night.
The Knights claimed the first set against Pender, 25-22, the second set 25-16, and the third set 25-14.
Natalia McNeill led all players with 12 kills while Kennedy Benne posted 7.
Head Coach Chelsey Quigley. "We have gone through some struggles this year. And at the beginning of the year things weren't quite clicking like we wanted. And we went through a lot of injuries. And we still had one of our starting defensive specialists sick tonight, so she couldn't play, but I was very proud of the way the girls played, and how they worked in those different positions, and came out on top."
The Knights had just 3 service errors on the night. "Yes and that was something that we were fighting big time at the beginning of the year. And I think they're finally getting that mental toughness where they can step back there and really have confidence to get that ball over and in aggressively," Quigley said.
Bergan topped Oakland-Craig 25-9 in sets one and two.
The Knights defeated the Raiders 25-17 in the first set, and 25-23 in the second set.
Oakland-Craig has raised their level of play and is playing better Volleyball in many ways right now I would say.
The Knights (4-21) take on Clarkson/Leigh (17-7) in the first round of the East Husker Conference Tournament at Clarkson/Leigh Thursday night.
The Patriots went 2-1 at the Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Tournament on Saturday, losing 2-1 to Howells-Dodge, but beating the host Bulldogs and Twin River 2-0.
Oakland-Craig fell 2-0 to Clarkson/Leigh at the Clarkson/Leigh Tournament on September 30th.
I think the Knights are a better team now than they were at that time since they have Benne back, but the Patriots are still an awfully tough team.
Oakland-Craig can definitely pull the upset, but Oakland-Craig has to play better than they did the first time these two teams met, and against Bergan Tuesday night.
Only Oakland-Craig's best effort is going to yield them a win I would say.
Perhaps the Knights can be the EHC spoiler though. Oakland-Craig is a very low seed, but upsets can happen at anytime in the sport of Volleyball, and in any sport for that matter.
The Knights have to minimize their hitting and service errors, and must make good, smart passes, while serving at a high level.
Serve receiving well is also important for Oakland-Craig, in my opinion.
Blocking and denying Clarkson/Leigh's hitters at the net will also be critical for the Knights I would say.
Oakland-Craig has to play aggressive and smart.
The Knights really have nothing to lose, but have to play with a level head at the same time.
All the pressure should squarely be on the Patriots. Oakland-Craig shouldn't feel any pressure whatsoever.
What hurts the Knights though is that they're young whereas Clarkson/Leigh is veteran laden and experienced.
So Oakland-Craig definitely has an uphill battle in this match, but the Knights are more than capable of shocking the conference and shaking things up in the tournament.
It won't be easy, but Oakland-Craig has nothing to lose, so we'll see if the Knights can put together a big match, and pull the upset.
Oakland-Craig will play either Tekamah-Herman or Scribner-Snyder depending how they fare against the Patriots.
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