MONROE — With a three-set 25-20, 25-14, 25-17 loss to Rock Valley-Valley opponent Delavan-Darien on Sept. 19, Monroe sinks to the bottom of the league and is still searching for its first conference set victory.
In order to do so, the Cheesemakers need to turn their offense up a notch. Monroe had more attack errors than kills and finished the night hitting -0.076.
In fact, Delavan-Darien took an early 3-1 lead in the first set thanks to service and attack errors on Monroe. But senior Sophie Golembiewski, the team’s only returning all-conference player, sparked a run in which the Cheesemaker took the lead. She pushed a ball to the back row for a kill and followed with a block on an overpass. After an ace from Olivia Feller to tie the game at four, Golembiewski gave her team the lead with an attack that was tipped at the net.
The two teams exchanged points and the lead three more times before Delavan-Darien head coach Haley Mueller called her first timeout with the Comets trailing 10-7. Out of the break, Monroe extended its lead to 13-9, aided by Delavan-Darien errors.
But the Comets began to heat up. Janelle Damrow found a hole with a tip, and Addison Stallings registered back-to-back blocks. Monroe gave up the lead on attack and serve receive errors, forcing head coach Cassie Wittman to call her first timeout. After losing four of the next six points — where the only points won came on Comet errors — Wittman called her second timeout.
The regrouping did little for Monroe, as the team went on to lose the set 25-20.
Problems only compounded in the second set. After falling behind 3-1 on attack errors, Delavan-Darien went on a 9-point run. In that span, Monroe committed four errors — three attacking and one service. The Comets reached a 10-point advantage, 20-10, on a service error.
The Cheesemakers went on a small run near the end of the second set — highlighted by two aces from Feller — but the hole they were in was too great to overcome. Mackenzie Struck put the set away, 25-14, with an ace.
Riley Nicholson tied the third set at three with an assist from Mya Wild, but that’s the closest Monroe got the rest of the way. Delavan-Darien pulled away with a 9-2 run. Nicholson provided a small spark with a kill, and then went back to the service line for an untouched ace down the right line. A Comet ball handling error got the Cheesemakers back within four, 12-8.
Although Monroe slowed Delavan-Darien’s offense — the Comet’s largest run down the stretch was just three points — its own offense struggled to put points together. The team’s greatest push late in the set came from a drop shot kill from Nicholson, followed by an ace.
Nicholson and Golembiewski led the team offensively with seven kills each. They were two of just three players to have a positive hitting percentage. The other was Avery Kaiser, who had one kill in six swings. Mya Wild distributed the offense with 14 assists. Defensively, Anastasia Lattin tallied three blocks.
WISCONSIN HEIGHTS INVITE
MAZOMANIE — The Cheesemakers hit the road Saturday, Sept. 21 for an invite. Monroe dropped all of its games, competing against Wisconsin Heights, Monticello, Waupun and Cambridge.
