By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
On Tuesday, the Merrill spikers and setters made the long trip to Eau Claire to face off against Eau Claire North High School in a non-conference match. Initial success with a victorious first set was followed by three successive set losses that culminated in North defeating Merrill, 3-1. Merrill won the first set 25-20, but then North took the reins for the rest of the match, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-14.
“We knew that Eau Claire North was going to be competitive going into tonight,” comments head coach Kris Krug. “They were a solid opponent offensively with an aggressive and quick defense that held us off after the first set. Our blocking was sound in the first set, but after that the defense struggled when our blockers weren’t getting set and taking anything off of North’s hits.”
A high amount of errors plagued the offense; Morgan Wardall led hitting with 13 kills and seven errors out of 43 attempts. Other hitting leaders included Katie Zelinski with 11 kills and six errors out of 35 attempts and Kelsie Belfiori with four kills and four errors out of 29 attempts.
Serving played a similar tune with Kate Peterson leading with one ace out of 20 attempts-error free. Wardall had two aces and one error out of 11 attempts and Madisen Weix had two aces and three errors out of eight attempts. Lindsey Casper had no aces or errors out of 14 attempts and led in set assists with 21.
“We are missing too many serves and having a problem with communicating,” adds Krug “It shows how young we are and the lack of experience when we have too many mental errors. The plan is to bounce back in Thursday’s match against SPASH and get us back on track with the goals we have set for this season.”
Merrill volleyball will face SPASH on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the MHS field house.
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