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Raptors fall to senior dominant Titans in three sets
LAKE CITY — A senior dominant led South Central Calhoun volleyball team defeated Ridge View on Tuesday 25-17, 25-19, 25-19.
“I expected this match to be a challenge. South Central Calhoun returned most of their lineup from last season and have a set of outstanding senior outsides. We have a new setter and all new passing lineup so it took us a few points to settle into the match. Lillian (Whitmer) did a masterful job of handling out of system balls and set distribution. The low beam ceiling in Lake City created some issues for us early on but once we adjusted things went a little better.”
Monica Brandhorst, Ridge View head volleyball coach
New setter for the Raptors is senior Lilly Whitmer, who played behind since graduated Taya Phillips a season ago. Whitmer finished with 22 of Ridge View’s 28 assists. Whitmer, just 5-foot-6 led the team in blocks with 2.5 total (2 solo, 1 assist). She also finished 7-of-7 in serving.
Ridge View finished with 31 kills to South Central Calhoun’s 39. The Raptors posted a .238 kill efficiency. Senior Sydney Blackmore was dominant offensively, finishing with a match-best 17 kills. Senior teammate Gabi Mason finished with five kills.
Senior hitters for South Central Calhoun led the Titans in kills. Brenna McAlister and Jayci Graeve finished with 13 and 11, respectively. Senior setter Norah Riedesel finished with 31 assists.
Ridge View finished 54-for-57 (94.7%) in serving with just four aces. In comparison, South Central Calhoun finished 73-for-77 (94.8%) with 12 aces.
The Raptors did finish with 51 digs as a team, led by Kiara Luscombe with 11, Blackmore, Mason, and Whitmer each finished with eight digs.
“I was happy with our defensive effort and hustle. I also thought we served tough which helped us out in transition. We have a few kinks to work out, but overall I was happy with individual performances especially from our senior starters. We are working to be more consistent on serve receive and eliminate some of our own unforced errors with communication and shot accuracy.”
Monica Brandhorst, Ridge View, head volleyball coach
Ridge View 17 – 19 – 19
South Central Calhoun 25 – 25 – 25
Ridge View Record: 0-1 | South Central Calhoun Record: 1-0
Ridge View Statistics
Assists (28) — Lilly Whitmer 22, Gabi Mason 1, Sydney Blackmore 1, Claire Wandrey 1, Chloe Murphy 1.
Kills (31 | Kill Eff: .238) — Blackmore 17, Mason 5, Wandrey 4, Kiara Luscombe 2, Whitmer 1.
Digs (51) — Luscombe 11, Blackmore 8, Mason 8, Whitmer 8, Murphy 5, Cadey Vohs 4, Naunika Crum 3, Leslie Avina 3, Wandrey 1.
Blocks (3) — Whitmer 2.5 (2 S, 1 A), Wandrey 1.0 (2 A), Crum 0.5 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (54-57 94.7% 4 aces) — Mason 11-11 1 ace (100%), Luscombe 11-11 2 aces (100%), Vohs 9-9 (100%), Whitmer 7-7 (100%), Blackmore 13-14 1 ace (92.9%).
Wolverines start season 0-3 at Spencer Invitational
SPENCER — The South O’Brien volleyball team wrapped up their season opening tournament in the Spencer Invitational falling to three opponents, Algona (14-21, 12-21), Okoboji (18-21, 15-21), and the host Tigers (19-21, 21-11, 8-15).
“It was good to finally get out and get the season underway. In all three matches, we were ahead of our opponents significantly, but could not finish out sets/match with wins. Our girls have the individual skills and ability to play at a much higher level than we did tonight. Maybe it was jitters for the opening night, not sure, but we need to figure out a way to push through tough situations and finish strong.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
A season ago, South O’Brien opened the season in the Earlybird Invitational hosted by Okoboji, finishing with a 1-2 match record, falling to both Algona and Okoboji and claiming a 2-0 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn.
With the most Algona win they move to 2-0 all-time, winning back-to-back meetings against the Wolverines. Okoboji has won three straight meetings with South O’Brien dating back to a 2-1 win for the Wolverines in September 2022. Spencer has made it four straight match wins over South O’Brien and lead the all-time series 14-4 dating back to September 2007.
Senior Ashlynn Gunnerson finished with 25 set assists over the three matches (5 vs. Algona, 5 vs. Okoboji, 15 vs. Spencer). As a team, the Wolverines finished with 33 total assists. Sophomore Reagan Plagge had a team-best 17 kills over the three matches with 10 coming against Spencer in the nightcap.
For Algona they finished with a kill efficiency of .133 against the Wolverines. Laura McLaughlin led the Bulldogs with five of the team’s 14 kills. McLaughlin also had a block to her credit. Serving Algona was 36-of-41 (87.8%) with six aces. Macy Knapp accounted for five of the six.
Okoboji’s Celeste DeVos led the Pioneers with six kills. The team total was 16 and they finished with a .132 kill efficiency. Alexa Christoffels finished with 11 assists.
(EDITORS NOTE): Spencer did not have their statistics online at time of release.
The Wolverines struggled in kill efficiency against their three opponents, finishing at -.108 against Algona, -.182 against Okoboji, and finished with 21 kills, 21 kills errors on 69 attacks against Spencer.
“We struggled with getting good sets to our outside and middle hitters most of the night. This was a surprise because we’ve done fairly well in the past in the setting area. We need to improve a great deal here. At times, we attacked the ball well but we also made a lot of mental mistakes at the net offensively.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
South O’Brien finished with a service percentage of 90.3 percent on the night, going 102-of-113 with 14 aces.
“Overall, we served fairly well (a point of emphasis for us this year). Volleyball is a game of miscues and we had our share tonight. We need to minimize the errors that we cause. Often, we were slow on defense and then transitioning to offense. Simply put, we just need to come out and play the way we practice and finish the set/match. We need to be more consistent with positive aggressive play. CQI – Continued Quality Improvement.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
South O’Brien 14 – 12
Algona 21 – 21
South O’Brien Record: 0-1 | Algona: 1-0
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (7) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 5, Shayli Johnson 2.
Kills (9 | Kill Eff: -.108) — Chloe Hustedt 3, Tori Schueller 3, Reagan Plagge 3.
Digs (21) — Abby Nelson 4, Taylor Wulf 3, Plagge 3, Hustedt 3, Addison Hedberg 3, Reese Farquhar 2, Gunnerson 2, Schueller 1.
Blocks (0) — None Reported.
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (25-29 87.8% 6 aces) — Wulf 8-8 2 aces (100%).
South O’Brien 18 – 15
Okoboji 21 – 21
South O’Brien Record: 0-2 | Okoboji: 1-1
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (8) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 5, Reese Farquhar 2, Reagan Plagge 1.
Kills (7 | Kill Eff: -.182) — Plagge 4, Farquhar 2, Tori Schueller 1.
Digs (7) — Addison Hedberg 4, Avery Halvorson 1, Gunnerson 1, Chloe Hustedt 1.
Blocks (2.0) — Plagge 1.0 (1 S), Farquhar 0.5 (1 A), Schueller 0.5 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (32-35 91.4% 5 aces) Hedberg 10-11 3 aces (90.9%).
South O’Brien 19 – 21 – 8
Spencer 21 – 11 – 15
South O’Brien Record: 0-3 | Spencer (2-1)
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (18) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 15, Reese Farquhar 3.
Kills (21 | Kill Eff: -NA) — Reagan Plagge 10, Taylor Wulf 5, Chloe Hustedt 3, Tori Schueller 2, Farquhar 1.
Digs (27) — Hustedt 10, Addison Hedberg 5, Gunnerson 4, Wulf 2, Abby Nelson 2, Farquhar 2, Schueller 1, Plagge 1.
Blocks (1.0) — Farquhar 0.5 (1 A), Schueller 0.5 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (45-49 91.8% 3 aces) Wulf 10-10 (100%), Gunnerson 8-8 (100%), Farquhar 7-7 (100%), Hedberg 12-13 2 aces (92.3%).
