JUDA — Black Hawk’s volleyball team may be brand new, but the Warriors banded together well enough for a 3-1 victory over the Panthers in their Six Rivers East Conference opener on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
“A win is a win,” Black Hawk head coach Rachel Wolff said. “We will take it. I want to be even more scrappy. That is something we need to learn from a team like Juda. They are a team that has come a long way.”
The two teams had met just three days prior in Monticello’s Six Rivers tournament, where Black Hawk bested Juda once again. The meeting prepared both teams, though, for what lay ahead.
“We came in Monday with passing and basics in mind,” Juda first-year head coach Miranda Pollansky said. “I felt that we needed to come back to the basics, and apparently it worked.”
The first set was tight, with the teams tied as late as 15-15. A 5-1 run from the Warriors gave them the extra push they needed to finish. In that span, Black Hawk capitalized on Juda’s hitting errors and had a kill from Kaylee Hagen. The Warriors closed out the set 25-19 with a kill from Veronica Cheatham.
Despite the set loss, Juda carried that same grit into the second set. After a kill from Allyse Troemel that tied the game at four, the Panthers went on a 6-1 run, prompting a Black Hawk timeout. In that stretch, Kelci Hess served up an ace that clipped the net and dropped short of the Warriors’ front row.
The break proved beneficial for Black Hawk, as Peyton Downing came out with a kill. Down the stretch she and Cheathem served up aces that got the Warriors within two at 14-12.
Juda extended its lead to 21-16, thanks to a pair of Warrior service errors and an ace from Grace Gold. Wolff called a timeout to break up the Panthers’ momentum.
Out of the pause, Lavinia Rufer erred at the service line, Briliey Swedlund’s free-ball pass went out of bounds and Cheathem knocked down a serve receive that crept over the net. Swedlund responded, though, finding a hole in the Warrior defense. Juda won three of the next four points to take the second set 25-20.
“To pull off that win was thrilling,” Swedlund said. “I’m still on Cloud 9. It was so much fun. I wish it was something we could have carried throughout the rest of the night.”
Juda’s momentum waned in the third set, as Downing opened with a tip kill. Black Hawk worked to a 10-5 lead with two, three-point rallies. Hailey Wellnitz sparked the first with a kill, while Mya Milz capped the second with a kill of her own.
Wellnitz tallied two more kills — one hitting the back line — before Pollansky called Juda’s first time out with the Panthers trailing 14-9. The break did little to slow Black Hawk, as the Warriors scored five of the next seven points. Another Wellnitz kill and an ace from Cheatham forced Pollansky’s hand yet again.
“We needed to keep carrying energy,” Cheatham said. “They were out hustling us, no doubt. Hailey and I took it in our own hands to bring the energy up.”
Although the two teams traded points equally down the stretch, Black Hawk had built up a large enough lead to win the third set 25-15.
Continuing to ride the momentum, the Warriors jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set. Milz served up back-to-back aces, followed by a Wellnitz kill. Anna Bartels put a stop to the run with a kill, but Black Hawk won another three points on two Panther errors and an ace from Downing.
Troemel’s kill prompted a Juda timeout. The pause did little to slow her momentum, though, as Troemel had another two kills to take a 10-5 lead.
Black Hawk pulled away 15-7 with kills from Milz and Wellnitz, forcing Pollansky to take her second timeout. Wellnitz picked right back up where she left off, though, winning the first point out of the break. After an ace from Miah Elmer, Wellnitz rattled off another two kills.
Wolff used the 10-point lead to sub in some of her bench, where Maddy Lange picked up a kill for a 21-10 lead. A four-hit possession by Juda made it match point. It took the Warriors four points to finish the job, but a miscommunication on the Panthers’ end resulted in a 25-17 set final and 3-1 match victory for Black Hawk.
Despite the loss, Pollansky was happy with her team’s performance, noting that in the few contests the Panthers have had, they’ve shown great improvement.
“The progress is insane,” Pollansky said. “The girls are taking what I have for them and implementing it. I’ve seen them completely turn around in the last two weeks of practice.”
