MACA girls split in Homecoming week

Homecoming week had an up-and-down look for the MACA volleyball Tigers, who on the whole have had trouble finding their desired stride. But on Tuesday the stride was quite fine. The Tigers swept Minnewaska Area at the home gym. 

Both of the week's matches were at home. On Thursday the Tigers' fortunes sputtered again in a 0-3 outcome vs. Paynesville. 

Maybe we shouldn't be too encouraged by the Tuesday success. The Lakers of 'Waska have a mere one win on the season. We maybe shouldn't be too downcast by the Thursday loss. It was to a Paynesville Bulldog team that owned 14-2 won-lost numbers coming out. Can the Tigers find more of a consistently competitive quality? Much of the season remains.

 

Tigers 3, Minnewaska 0

Fans at Tiger Center saw the orange and black turn back the rival Lakers by scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16. Sydney Dietz supplied punch with seven kills and three aces. Brianna Marty powered four kills/two aces, and Maddy Grove had five kills. 

I have access to more detailed stats for the Lakers. So we see Avery Fier with a serving ace. She also had a set assist but here it was Haley Shea standing out with ten. Brooklyn Larson led in hitting with five kills. She was followed by Amanda Lohre with three, Miaya Guggisberg with two and Dacia Fleury and Shea each with one. 

Addy Kath and Larson each had an ace block. Taking a look at digs, we see Larson (11), Fier (10), Grace Zenk (7), Fleury (5) and Brooklyn Meyer (5). 

Our kmrs-kkok website has 'Waska with a 1-9 record, but the West Central Tribune has it 0-9-1. Not sure how you get a tie in volleyball. According to the "Minnesota Scores" site as of this morning (Friday), the Lakers are winless - nothing but losses in the score list to date. 

See what I had to deal with in my years with the Morris paper? Info from multiple sources often has contradictions. You'd be surprised how often. And certain people can get so mad commenting about the media's work. The average person does not get that excited about it. 

"Minnesota Scores" reports as of Friday morning that the MACA won-lost is 2-10. No need to nit-pick about the numbers for either MACA or Minnewaska - both teams are floundering some. The spirit of Homecoming week helped compensate for that here.

 

Paynesville 3, Tigers 0

The green-themed Paynesville Bulldogs were our guests Thursday at Tiger Center. We had to deal with the sharp work at the net by Bulldog Kyleigh Tangen: 15 kills. Other Bulldogs with kills were Emm Flander (7), Natalie Riley (4), Kaitlyn Gilk (3) and Aubrie Spanier (1). Flander came at the Tigers with an ace block. Sophie Schroeder executed six ace serves. 

Game scores with P-ville numbers first: 25-17, 25-22 and 25-15.

Spanier had three ace serves, Tangen two and Emma Stanley one. In digs: Tangen (11), Riley (7), Spanier (5) and Flander (5). Spanier carried the load in setting where she chalked up 26 assists. Stanley and Riley each had one assist. 

The Tigers mounted an attack that had Sydney Dietz with five kills and a block. Cam Ostby performed five kills and Maddy Grove four. Grove had a block. Brianna Marty had impact with her three kills and three aces. 

So Paynesville plugs away as a volleyball juggernaut this season. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. Obviously no one on behalf of Tiger volleyball is calling in to the West Central Tribune. That's unfortunate. Sometimes when you're losing, that's when media attention is appreciated most.

 

Tennis success

So nice to see a very competitive tennis team for the orange and black. The team goes by MACA/WCA. So we're combined with West Central Area. And on Thursday the team fashioned a 5-2 win over Melrose. 

Singles really powered us: a 4-0 sweep. So let's look at that phase: Abbigail Athey defeated Alexis Baumann 6-3 and 6-3. Kassidy Girard in the No. 2 spot turned back Emily Rieland 6-3 and 7-6. Catherine "Cate" Kehoe handled the racket at No. 3 and she downed Reagan Mueller 6-2 and 6-1. Then at No. 4, it was Claire Stark turning back Gretta Hellermann 6-1 and 6-1. 

Kjersten Nibbe and Hope Sperr picked up the MACA win in doubles, downing Jamie Klasen and Jasmine Golla at the No. 1 spot, 5-7, 6-2 and 10-2. At No. 2, Lakia Manska and Breanna Schmidgall fell to Madison Baysinger and Jessica Pohlmann, 3-6 and 2-6. The No. 3 doubles spot had Lydia Fynboh and Elizabeth Pollard on the short end vs. Ava Thelen and Macy Davis, 6-7 and 1-6.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com