Maconaquah Schools

The Lady Braves were in Huntington for the eight team Huntington North Invite Saturday. After dropping an uninspiring first match against Fort Wayne Wayne 21-25, 21-25, the Braves won their last three matches of the day to finish 3-1 and take 3rd place. The second match had us take on Huntington North where we won in three sets 25-20, 23-25, 15-6. It was better than our first match, but we still had passing and serving issues that plagued us in the second set allowing the Vikings to win. In the decisive third set our girls took control with strong service and ball control to win handily. The Braves immediately took the court for our third match in a row against Fort Wayne Northrop. Kasey Murry was not messing around starting this match as she ran off 12 service points in a row to take control of set one. We got to see Ryleigh Marburger and Bristol Yoder in action and won set one easily 25-9. Set two was not really in question as we forced Northrop into hitting errors and controlled the net winning 25-15. We had a brief lunch then waited to see who we would play in the crossover match. With Wayne, Maconaquah, and Huntingon North all going 2-1 in pool play it came down to tiebreakers. Sets won was even among the three teams so it was point differential in pool play that would determine who won the pool. Huntington North scored one more point than us to win the pool and play in the championship match. Maconaquah would play Bishop Leurs in the third place match. By this point of the day we were playing better but still had trouble putting the first set away against Luers. We had many set points but could not finish them off until we got to 30-28. Though we missed opportunities in the first set we showed the mental fortitude to win the set and carry the momentum into the second set. After giving up the first few points our Ladies in Blue took control and finished the match off 25-17. That gave us a 3rd place finish and puts our record at 9-2 on the season. Ireland Kile put down 24 kills to lead the Braves offense on the day. Kile also had five aces, three blocks, and 21 digs in the four matches. Kasey Murry served a team high 10 aces and added 21 kills and 25 digs playing all around. Aubrey Kaiser tallied 20 kills on an impressive.432 hitting percentage, served five aces, and dug up 29 digs on defense. Lucee Jernagan downed 13 kills, dug up eight balls, and had five aces while making 100% of her serves throughout the day. Sophomore Eliot Fuller had four kills and Freshman Bailei Boggs had three kills and two blocks. Spaniard Sara Gil-Bonnin added two kills for the Braves. Setter Delaney Betzner dished out 70 assists that ended in kills, dug up 27 balls, dumped four kills, served four aces, and led the team with eight service errors. Libero Naomi Cook had 24 digs and our German Ida Kiener dug up eight balls playing in the back row. We did not have our best day but we were able to tough out three wins. We continued to improve throughout the tournament which was promising. It will be a good opportunity for us to learn and get better. The Braves are back in action Thursday at Lewis Cass.