By Nick Beversdorf
Reporter
It was another close match-up for Merrill volleyball Thursday night, yet the Bluejays eventually emerged victorious, defeating Wausau East 3-0. This win puts Merrill at 5-1 in the conference, just behind the undefeated Everest Evergreens.
Merrill won all three sets, although not by a wide margin. Set one ended at 25-21 and the second set ended at 25-20. The third set was very close, with Merrill just edging out East 26-24.
Katie Zelinski was the resident hitter for the match; she had 16 kills and two errors out of 29 attack attempts. Morgan Wardall and Kelsie Belfiori also helped offensively. Wardall had 10 kills and one error out of 16 attempts and Belfiori three kills and four errors out of 18 attempts.
Belfiori, along with Kate Peterson, were the night’s top servers. Peterson had four aces out of 13 attempts, error-free and Belfiori had one ace out of 17 attempts with two errors. Lindsey Casper had one ace out of 14 attempts, error-free and Wardall had two aces out of 11 attempts with one error.
Talyor Cichy had 43 total pass attempts, with 12 perfect, 14 good, 14 okay and 3 missed. She also had 11 digs.
“Wausau East played a tough match,” comments head coach Kris Krug. “Defensively, East was picking up everything. We gave up too many points to the other team with our missed serves. We were, again, missing Maddix Bonnell right now – as she is a leader on the court and a solid defensive player.
“Next week will be a real test visiting Eau Claire North. Although, it is a non-conference match-up, they will be a high-caliber team to compete against.”
For full game stats, click here.