BLANCHARDVILLE — Black Hawk coach Rachel Wolff earned her 300th career win as the Warriors knocked off Pecatonica 25-23, 25-12, 25-22 Sept. 29.
“I had no idea I was at 300 wins. I’ve been blessed with a lot of good teams and good players here at Black Hawk. This is as much about the players as it is about me,” Wolff said.
Black Hawk is unbeaten this season and has won back-to-back Six Rivers East titles. However, the Vikings gave the Warriors a run for their money.
“That’s a team that never gives up. They are such a talented team. If you are not on your toes, they are going to make you notice,” Wolff said.
In the opening set, Macie Stauffacher served a pair of aces as Black Hawk went up 4-0. Pecatonica used a 5-0 run midway through the set to bring it to within two points at 17-15, and twice got to within one point of Black Hawk thanks to kills by Lexi Peterson.
Raylin Peterson, a Black Hawk sophomore, spiked the final point of the set.
In the second set, Black Hawk erased an early deficit and then dominated. Bailey Butler served three points and an ace, and Erika Schultz served five points and collected two aces for the Warriors.
A 10-0 run made it 18-7, and Stauffacher closed the game with six straight service points and two aces. Makayla Mau had six kills in the set and Butler added five more.
“You don’t coach that. You just sit back and watch it in awe,” Wolff said of Butler’s ability to change speeds and direction on each swing. However, she was happy to note that the victory was a collective effort. “It takes a team. That’s what we do. Of course, we rely on Bailey and Makayla but the other kids are completely capable of doing good things, too. They step up when they need to for us.”
Pecatonica played another tight set in the third game, and the two teams were knotted up at 20-20 after an ace by Lexi McSherry, and the Vikings went up 21-20 after a Warriors error. A Butler tip pulled Black Hawk back into a tie at 21, but a fourth missed serve in the set gave Pecatonica yet another lead at 22-21.
After a Vikings error, Mau slammed home a spike kill to put the Warriors ahead 23-22. Butler then aced a serve and Mau secured the match with a heavy-handed spike.
“I think we can play better. Our serving is usually pretty strong, but it was tough for us tonight. We also had some communication errors and our passing was off at times. I think we hustled and persevered though those errors to earn the win. We had some really good plays at times too,” Wolff said.
Mau led Black Hawk with 15 kills and a block, while Butler had 10 kills, two aces and five digs. Stauffacher had five aces and 17 assists. Tara Wellnitz had two blocks and Schultz added three aces.
Tessa Green led Pecatonica with seven kills. McSherry had three aces and a block, Sydney Eaton dished out 14 assists and Lily Busser had eight digs.
— Thomas Gunnell contributed to this story
