The Bluejay volleyball team took a large step in their goal of returning to the Valley in the top spot with a big win over Wausau West on Thursday.
Then they wrapped up the title of Saturday’s Merrill Invite despite a third-round loss, due to their consistent play.
The MHS girls bounced back from a third round loss to Rice Lake with a 25-19, 25-23 victory over Athens, which also finished 3-1 for the day. But Merrill kept the hardware at home due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“We lost to Rice Lake in the 3rd match, it just seemed like we were still on lunch break,” MHS coach Steph Nelson said. “We would do something well on the offensive side, but then we would make a simple mistake on the defensive side and vice versa.
“(Athens was) an excellent team, but my girls were finally fired up again and they went out there and were smart about where they were placing balls, and were extremely scrappy with their defense.”
Jess Sabey, Renee Sladek and Lindsay Krueger were named to the All-Tournament team.
“But I’d like to add that while these girls were recognized for superb play, everyone on the team did a great job today,” Nelson said. “Brittany Grosskurth played some of the best volleyball I’ve seen her play all season, and Jenna Zamzow played great at the libero position while we were giving the very sore Kaylin Byer a break.”
Merrill won its three matches in two games apiece, defeating Edgar (25-