During the week of Sept. 10-14 the Lady Wolves competed in two more conference match-ups.
They hosted the Shiocton Chiefs on Tuesday and traveled to Amherst to play against the Falcons on Thursday.
Once again missed serves plagued the Wolves when they played the Chiefs. Within the match they gave Shiocton 10 points off of service errors. This allowed Shiocton easy side outs and limited the amount of offensive points the Wolves could score.
In the first set Manawa played very good defense. They were able to earn the defensive point, making Shiocton side out, 13 times! Unfortunately they only scored 4 offensive points, including an ace by Kali Young. Most of the time the Wolves were able to keep Shiocton from scoring more than 3 points on one server but, when the score was 5 to 7 in the Chiefs favor, they had a 6 point run. Trailing by 8, the Wolves were never able to catch up. Shiocton won the first set 25-17.
In the second set Shiocton took an early 6-1 lead. The Wolves would fight back, bringing the game within 2 with a scores 14-12 and 16-14 on the following service rotation. That was as close as it would get. Within the next two rotations the Chiefs went up 20-14 and finished, 25-15.
The early part of the 3rd set looked to be the best volleyball the Wolves played for the night. Though they started the set with an early 5-0 deficit, Megan O’Brien served 4 in a row, including 1 ace, to pull within 1. The teams would stay close until Manawa allowed a 6 point run by the Chiefs. This would put them up 14-6. Soon after they would also put together another 6 point run, making the score 23-8. With momentum in their favor, Shiocton finished the set, and match, 25-12.
Outside hitters, O’Brien and Breana Haines led their team with 4 points each. Young was close behind with 3. Lexie Sell and Ansley Block each contributed 1 point too. Libero, Wendy Kons, had 12 digs for the night while Sell and O’Brien each had 9.
In the 2nd match of the week the Wolves traveled to Amherst to face off against the Falcons. These two teams played a very similar level of volleyball but Amherst was able to pull out the victory.
Set 1 started out well for the Wolves. They led throughout the entire game. Their greatest lead was when they were ahead 14-7. Unfortunately, with the score 16-12, in the Wolves favor, Amherst earned a side out and then their middle hitter served 7 points in a row and took a 20-16 lead. Manawa tried to regroup, but the first set went to the Falcons, 25-21.
In the 2nd set Amherst played better offense than Manawa. Scoring no more than 3 points each rotation, the Wolves were not able to shut Amherst down. The Falcons easily won the 2nd set 25-14.
Manawa limited Amherst’s offensive points in the final set but 4 missed serves by the Wolves help Amherst to score easy points. Slowly gaining 2 to 3 points each server, while Manawa earned only 1 or 2, Amherst was able to finish the set 25-17.
Ansley Block led the Wolves in points for the night. She had 8.5 points. Haines was not far behind with 7 while O’Brien had 6.5. Other team members who contributed points included: Young (3), Sell (3), Aubrie MIllard (1), and Kons (1). Sell had 10 assists for the night, while Millard contributed 3. With 13 digs, Kons was the defensive leader and Sell (7) and O’Brien (6) helped out too. O’Brien was also the team’s leading server, serving 8-8. Nicki Cady was also 100 percent from the service line, serving 2-2.