Decorah netters picking up the pace

By Becky Walz,

Thursday, September 5, 2024 11:47 am

Things are looking good for the Decorah volleyball team (2-1, 0-0 NEIC) early in this season with two wins under their feet in three matches.

Three sets
After winning their opening match of the season Tuesday, the Vikings were geared up to do it again Thursday against another non-conference opponent. Hosting North Fayette Valley, Decorah shut down the TigerHawks in three sets, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-18.
The Vikes had 39 kills on 101 attack attempts. In addition, there were 37 assists, 52 digs and three total blocks and they served 64-for-73 with nine aces.
“NFV was a very scrappy team and their libero played well. It was sometimes difficult for us to find the floor with our swings but we played really good defense as well. Our serve receive again was good which allowed Dylin (Thompson) to move the ball around to our hitters. That balance allowed us to keep them guessing at times. Dylin and McKinley (Massman) again played well and worked hard for us at all times. Leah Holland had some big swings and was very effective at the service line. Sydney Thompson also stepped up last night and put some balls down from the right side which will help in the future to take some pressure off of McKinley and Kelby (Kerndt) on the other pin,” said coach Gina Holthaus.
Massman and Kerndt combined for 23 of the team’s 39 kills with Massman hammering down a team high 13 to go with 10 digs and a 13-for-15 serving performance. Holland and S. Thompson each pounded out seven kills. D. Thompson dished out 32 assists, while Ellie Rolfs was there defensively for 17 digs. Savannah O’Reilly added nine digs and served 7-for-8.

Back at it
The season is heating up for the Vikes as they faced Class 1A No. 9 St. Ansgar (7-2) on the road Tuesday night, surrendering the match to the Saints, 3-0. Set scores were 15-25, 20-25 and 19-25.
“Saint Ansgar was a good team. They had some things that we haven’t seen yet this year as far as two very active, strong middles and they ran a faster tempo offence,” said Coach Holthaus. “I thought Ellie (Rolfs) led our back row, and they dug the ball very well and gave our hitters a lot of chances to swing. We started very slow in set one but did respond to the pace after that.
Massman had another great night with 17 kills, 6 digs and went 7-for-9 from the service line with three aces. D. Thompson handed out 25 assists. Rolfs came up with 13 digs to lead the defense.

Coming up
The Vikes will compete in their first tournament of the season Saturday, Sept. 7, at Charles City at 9 a.m. Next week Decorah opens the conference season on the road against the Crestwood Cadets Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 7:15 p.m.

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