Lady Trojans serve up victory

DEWITT - Serving proved to be one of the key components for the DeWitt Tri County Lady Trojans Tuesday night as they manufactured a three-set win over area rival Wilber-Clatonia.

Tri County downed the visiting Lady Wolverines, 25-14, 25-23, 25-20.

Lady Trojan coach Brett Scheiding said he was “very pleased” with the way the team started the match.

“We started off very aggressive and we were efficient when we were doing it,” Scheiding said. “It was a nice chance to have the consistency there.”

Heading into the match, Scheiding said he “expected” to play at least four sets and possibly five.

“If you can get away with a three-set victory over a good team like (Wilber-Clatonia) then you have to be happy with the way things went,” Scheiding said.

Scheiding said it was “critical” for the Lady Trojans to serve well against the Lady Wolverines, especially in the close second and third sets.

“If we would have started donating points (with missed serves), they would have been right in it and could have finished us off,” Scheiding said.

In serving, the Lady Trojans were accurate on 88 percent of their serves for the match and finished with 11 aces against just nine errors.

Individually, Katey Pflanz and Kristin Bloomquist led Tri County in ace serves with three each.

Another key for the Lady Trojans was passing, Scheiding said.

“We were passing well early,” he said. “Whenever we do that, we can get into our offense.

“We have the hitters to be aggressive right away, but a lot of times we haven’t because we come out flat and don’t pass very well.”

Defensively, Sarah Genrich led Tri County in digs with 11. She was also 19-for-21 in serve receive.

“Sarah passed extremely well,” Scheiding said.

Tri County’s attack was led by Lauren Cammack with 13 kills, while Jessica Zimmerman had a team-high 23 set assists.

After easily winning the first set, Scheiding said he wasn’t surprised when Wilber-Clatonia came back strong in the second set.

“They made a lot of mental mistakes in the first set and I knew they’d overcome that in the second and third sets,” Scheiding said.

Both of the final two sets were battles to the finish, Scheiding said.

Wilber-Clatonia coach Angie Frerking said the Lady Wolverines came out slow in the first set and had trouble picking up the pace offensively.

“Pretty much all night we didn’t have much of an offense,” Frerking said. “Our offense just didn’t show up tonight.”

Frerking said the Lady Wolverines mad a lot of serving errors in the match, something the team normally doesn’t do.

The highlight for Wilber-Clatonia was the Lady Wolverines’ defense, Frerking said.

“We played great defense,” Frerking said.

Leading the Lady Wolverines’ defense, Jenna Uher had 17 digs.

Katelyn Koll led the Wilber-Clatonia offense with eight kills. She also had a team-high five blocks.

Next action for both Tri County and Wilber-Clatonia will be Saturday at the Falls City Invitational.

Tri County vs. Wilber-Clatonia

Ace serves: Tri County (Jamie Erskine two, Jessica Zimmerman one, Shelby Zimmerman one, Lauren Cammack one, Katey Pflanz three, Kristin Bloomquist three). Wilber-Clatonia (Taylor Riechers two). Kills: Tri County (Erskine one, Jessica Zimmerman four, Shelby Zimmerman seven, Cammack 13, Jamie Brandt one, Pflanz nine, Bloomquist four). Wilber-Clatonia (Katelyn Koll eight, Katie Wollenburg three, Kessa Rezny four). Set assists: Tri County (Erskine 11, Jessica Zimmerman 23, Shelby Zimmerman one, Brandt one, Pflanz one). Wilber-Clatonia (na). Ace blocks: Tri County (Jessica Zimmerman two, Shelby Zimmerman two, Pflanz one, Bloomquist three). Wilber-Clatonia (Koll five Rezny two). Digs: Tri County (Erskine six, Jessica Zimmerman three, Sarah Genrich 11, Shelby Zimmerman one, Cammack two, Pflanz seven, Bloomquist three). Wilber-Clatonia (Jenna Uher 17).