Girls Volleyball: South Beats North 2-0

The cross-town showdown between and saw the host Mustangs best the Trojans 2-0 Wednesday with great serving.

 (3-1) out served the Trojans 11 aces to three, having a couple stretches of three straight aces to open large leads.

“The serves were very aggressive and that’s what kept us in the game,” senior middle hitter Cassidy Herrmann said. “We got so many aces and that was a big part of our win.”

head coach Mark Wasik was not pleased with his team’s serving, as the Trojans (1-3) had four service errors to ’s one. His team also had a hard time establishing ball control when would serve, resulting in poor set-ups and missed hits.

“They served a nice, consistent, aggressive ball and we had no answer for it,” Wasik said. “Unfortunately, if you can’t pass on served balls, you can’t win. We spend a lot of time on it in practice and for some reason, we are struggling with it.”

In the first set, gained a 3-2 edge on senior outside hitter Jessie Tulacka’s two kills.

“I just look for the openings and try to get them down,” said Tulacka, who had five kills in the match. “If I don’t see anything, I’m going to roll it off the fingers into a corner.”

would go on a 6-0 run on two aces by senior defensive specialist Kelly Bowe, a tip kill by senior middle hitter Alison Dec, a block and two deflections. The Mustangs had four blocks and two deflections in the match.

“One of the goals we’ve been working on a lot in practice is blocking and being where we’re supposed to be with both middles, right and left sides,” senior right side Jessica Pikul said. “A goal was to get their cross so our defensive players could work around us from there and get whatever we miss on the block.”

would make it 12-11 after had a side out and lifting error coupled with junior outside hitter Christine Gierut’s ace. The Mustangs then went on a 10-1 run that started with a service error, three aces and outlasting on a dig-filled sequence.

“They’re a very, hard, aggressive team and they just kept swinging,” Bowe said. “But mentally, we’re all just thinking get to where we need to be and everything’s going to be OK. We are going to make the dig and get the point.”

The Mustangs began set two with an 8-1 advantage, but the Trojans closed it to 14-11. clinched the match by going on a 7-0 run with three aces.  

“It’s really frustrating because we know we could do it,” Tulacka said. “We’re just not there yet.”

Wasik said his team has to work on basic volleyball like pass-set-hit, controlling the ball and making better contact to win matches.

The Trojans will play Benet at 6 p.m. Monday at home, while ’s next matchup is 6 p.m. Monday at Neuqua Valley.