"You'll never get ahead if you don't take care of what you have." - Doris Waddell, RIP

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn
Click on the image to read Williams family reflections w/ emphasis on UMM.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Volleyball and tennis: MACA girls prevail

Volleyball: a sweep
The MACA girls used a road venue to pick up their first win on Tuesday, Sept. 3. The volleyball Tigers excelled at the Minnewaska Area court. They entered the night at 0-2 and came out 1-2, victorious in a sweep.
Scores were 25-7, 25-15 and 25-7. Coach Kristi Fehr's Tigers showed mastery over the Lakers.
Beth Holland picked up two serving aces on the night. Hunter Mundal came through with one.
In set assists it was Chelsey Ehleringer setting the pace with 14, followed by Haley Erdahl with eleven. Sydney Engebretson and Nicole Strobel each had one blocking ace.
Terianne Itzen was busy in digs, performing 19, while Mundal and Erdahl came through with eleven and seven, respectively.
We're saving hits for last in this update. Here we have Engebretson standing out with her nine aces. Paige Schieler had seven hitting aces, Lacee Maanum five and Strobel two.
 
Tennis: win over YME
The Morris Area Chokio Alberta tennis Tigers showed a winning flourish on the court vs. Yellow Medicine East.
Doubles is where the Tigers carved out their decisive advantage. First singles Tiger Abbie Olson also won, so when all the action was completed, MACA was up 4-3 over the Sting. The action was at the home courts. Summer conditions prevailed.
Olson showed her winning flair vs. Danielle Clarke, taking care of business in two sets: 6-4 and 7-5. The first doubles team of Carly Gullickson and Kjersa Anderson downed the Sting pair of Jordan Trotter and Sandy Bartels, 7-6 (7-2) and 7-5.
The second doubles team of Kaitlin Vogel and Brittany Cardwell had to overcome a slow start. They must have spotted some weaknesses in their opponents: Ann Clarke and Mariah Norell. Kaitlin and Brittany dropped the first set 1-7, then came on strong to win the rest of the way, 7-6 (7-5) and 10-8.
The third doubles tandem of Jessica Burks and Annie Brandt also dropped their first set, although it was a close 4-6. Then they surged, downing the YME pair of Steph Bartels and Hailey Spielman 6-2 and 6-3.
Maddie Hennen occupied second singles for the Tigers and she fell vs. Jordan Glad, 3-6 and 2-6. At third singles, Hannah Breeggemann was defeated by Britannia Radditz, 0-6 and 2-6.
Fourth singles Tiger Caitlin Wilts came out on the short end vs. Sophie Timm, 1-6 and 2-6.
 
It feels like summer
School is on and the sports teams have been active. The fall season is vibrant for Morris Area Chokio Alberta, to be sure. Still, up through today (Thursday), the conditions have been most summer-like.
The starting time for the MACA football season opener got pushed an hour later because of the heat on Friday. The Tigers played at Minnewaska Area and were defeated 31-14.
The pre-season headline in the Morris newspaper read "Pope, Tigers ready for fresh start." Kevin Pope is the new head coach of the Tigers. He succeeds Jerry Witt who held the reins for something like 30 years. I was along for basically the whole ride.
Even after I left the Morris newspaper, I had the good fortune of being able to photograph the Tigers for the past three years, assembling a photo album on Flickr for each season. I'm not sure the newspaper has even bothered doing a photo album (or gallery) on Tiger football.
It's nice to know that not only can I keep covering the Tigers, I can do so while delivering a product that is actually superior to the newspaper. I checked the newspaper website Wednesday afternoon and, unless I missed it, there was no coverage of the MACA vs. 'Waska football game. I still saw that headline "Pope, Tigers ready for fresh start."
I often wish the Morris newspaper would have a fresh start.
In fact, does the new coach in Tiger football really represent anything "fresh?" Are we to surmise that things had gotten "stale" in Tiger football? I'm sure coach Witt would laugh at this observation. At any rate, coach Pope - the "young guy" - doesn't appear quite so fresh now, his team having yielded 31 points in game #1.
We'll see how things go tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 6) when MACA hosts Paynesville at 7 p.m. Will Big Cat Stadium be hopping? Will there still be a  P.A. guy who says "that's another Tiger FIRST. . ." (The crowd finishes with "down.")
Will there be a pep band? The Morris Area musicians have seemed rather rare at Big Cat. Will MACA ever re-institute cheerleaders or a (male/female) "cheer team?"
Should we even want football to stay popular? I have written continuously about how football has come under close analysis and concern because of the very serious health issues, largely involving the human brain. The brain would seem to be a body part that parents would want to guard with fair vigilance. But what do I know? I'm not a parent.
Apparently the parents feel it's more important to have their boys racing across that big green field, entertaining us in that distinctly American sport of football, not to be confused with European-style football which is probably the type we should encourage. But again, what do I know?
Who am I to suggest that the Morris newspaper should actually have some decent coverage up on its website, or run photo galleries, or do some interesting, imaginative stuff, trying to avoid simply re-running stuff from the Willmar newspaper?
Who am I to suggest? I'm not an advertiser. Nor do I sell advertising. I'm just a journalist.
- Brian Williams - morris mn - bwilly73@yahoo.com

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