ARGYLE — As the Vikings and Orioles came together Sept. 2 to hash out the latest edition of their rivalry, it was the home team that walked off the court smiling. Argyle swept Pecatonica 25-10, 25-23, 25-10.
“Honestly, I thought we did everything that I was hoping we’d do,” said Connie Wunschel, Argyle’s coach. “
The opening set deked out the collective predictions, as Pecatonica saw a 3-1 lead disappear in seconds. As the dust settled, the Orioles capped the frame on a 24-7 run, including a 9-1 finish.
“That was our first conference set of the season,” Pecatonica co-coach Liz McGowan said. “We were in a tournament on Saturday and did sort of the same thing when figuring out different rotations. We told them that we need to play and control the game on our side of the net. I think we saw that a lot more in the second set.”
In the second set, the Vikings were able to apply the pressure the entire set. Pecatonica’s largest lead in the frame reached four points at 5-1 and 7-3. Trailing 13-11, the Orioles got a quick side-out on a push kill by Megan Johnson, which sparked a 6-0 run that put Argyle ahead by four, also it’s largest lead of the period. Pecatonica still countered, running off a 7-1-run to swing the score back to 20-18 in its favor. The Vikings moments later led 23-22, but Argyle closed the frame on a 3-0 run, with Kyleah Mick scoring on a block and then back-to-back kills from Grace Ganshert.
“I would say we felt better heading into the third set than we did the second set. We controlled things a little more to that point — they found those grooves, they found those rotations,” McGowan said. “We didn’t find that find that fire like we were hoping.”
The third frame opened with the two teams splitting the first eight points. After that, Pecatonica would rather forget what happened, as the Orioles closed it out on a 21-6 run.
“They got their rhythm back. They talked, they made sure that everyone knew that they were important out there,” Wunschel said.
Plaguing the drought was woes in service department. Seemingly every time the Vikings scored a side-out, they gave it right back to the opponent with a service error. Only one time in the entire set did the Vikings score back-to-back points, and that came in the first eight serves on back-to-back Argyle errors.
“I think our unforced errors is what hurt us. Our first four points were actually from Argyle, and we needed to capitalize on that. We just weren’t able to do it,” said Tori Leonard, Pecatonica’s other co-coach.
Ganshert had seven kills to lead all hitters, while teammate Breann Flannery had six kills. Maggie Godfrey finished with four aces for Argyle, and Johnson dished out 17 assists.
Chloe Schraepfer led Pecatonica with seven kills. Lexi Peterson and Siri Thronson each had two blocks.
“I think from here it is just mental toughness — believing in themselves and believing in each other. They’ve got the talent, and they know they can do it — they just have to show they can do that consistently,” McGowan said.
The win was big for Argyle, which entered the year with loads of optimism. The team is senior-laden with players that have started or were rotational pieces since their freshman year. Just a few weeks ago that same squad won the summer league. But in the opening Six Rivers East match Aug. 31, Monticello put a licking on Argyle, and the Orioles had to look themselves in the mirror and regroup.
Wunschel said practice the next day was more of a “family meeting”.
“We all sat down and aired out some stuff and figured out where we were going. Coming into today, we weren’t quite sure where we were either. Practice was more about empowering them and letting them know that we believed in them,” Wunschel said. “One of the big things we talked about since the beginning of the year — and it was really important after Tuesday — is that this is just a sport. Go have fun with it.”
