Three games last week gave the Lady Raider a little break from being busy, busy, busy. However, all games were against Class D-1 schools, two of which had a combined won-loss record of 25-5.
Harvard fell and then L-N faced two of the better teams in the area in Kenesaw and Shelton.
The game summaries:
L-N – HARVARD: 25-8, 25-18: The two-set win by L-N was a study in contrast. In the first set, Kills by Emma Epley and Kara Menke got the girls off to a quick start at 5-0. That was followed by the entire team getting in on the action as they built a 17-1 lead before Harvard scored again.
The serve changed hands a few times before Aleah Heikkinen came to the service line and served an ace, followed by two Harvard hitting errors to put the set into the Raider winning column. There were very few volleys that lasted any time at all.
In the second set, Harvard served one ace early and took advantage of a number of Raider hitting errors using an 8-0 scoring run to jump out to a big start. It took a little time plus a couple of ace serves by Emma and a kill by Sydney Biltoft to tie the score at 13-13.
Ace serves by Aleah and Hanna Skinner with kills by several Raiders paced L-N to the victory after the score was tied. L-N improved their statistics in most categories in the game and racked up victory number seven for the year.
(Kills, Ace, Digs) Sydney Biltoft 5, 0, 1; Aleah Heikkinen 3, 2,4; Emma Epley 9, 2, 2; Elsa Jorgensen 1,1,7; Katelyn Mazour 0, 1, 5; Emily Troudt 0, 0, 2; Hanna Skinner 0, 2, 3; Kylie Beard 3, 1, 1; Kara Menke 3, 0, 3.
Assists: Katelyn 16.
Blocks: Solo: Kara Menke 1; Assists: Sydney 1, Kara 1.
Serve Receive: Elsa 7 of 9; Aleah 5 of 5; Emma 3 of 4; Katelyn 3 of 3.
L-N – KENESAW: 23-25, 17-25: The second game of the Harvard Triangular was with Kenesaw, a D-1 team with an 11-4 record was not a happy occasion for L-N. The game was a bit of a conundrum in that the Raiders did not play poorly. Most all statistical figures were about even with the season averages. It was just that to defeat a team as good as Kenesaw, a better than average game is needed.
Emma continued her leadership in plays at the net with eight kills; Aleah and Emma each had two ace serves; Katelyn was team leader in ball handling with 30 of 31 plays with nine assists; Aleah and Elsa led in serve receptions.
(Kills, Ace, Digs) Sydney Biltoft 1, 0, 0; Aleah Heikkinen 3, 2, 7; Emma Epley 8, 2, 6; Elsa Jorgensen 0, 0, 13; Katelyn Mazour 1, 1, 6; Emily Troudt 0, 0, 1; Hanna Skinner 0, 0, 7; Kylie Beard 2, 0, 0; Kara Menke 1, 0, 1.
Assists: Katelyn: 9.
Blocks: Solo: Aleah 1; Assists: Aleah, Emma, 1 each.
Serve Receive: Aleah 12-14, Elsa 12-13, Hanna 5-6.
L-N – SHELTON: 17-15, 20-25, 21-25: A favorite rival came to town Thursday night from Class D-1 Shelton with a 13-1 record. They displayed just why they are 13-1 in the game.
A strong part of the Raider game this season has been at the service line where L-N has been averaging more than three aces per set. Kenesaw handled the Raider serves pretty well allowing L-N only two ace serves for all three sets.
The Lady Raiders did well at the net where they had nine kills per set, led by Emma with 11, Aleah with seven and Kara with five.
Another strong point for L-N in this game was the ball handling as they averaged almost nine a set, led in this game by Katelyn’s 18 assists coming on 54 of 55 good handling of the ball.
The girls were just not quite to the level of Shelton in this game, but this reporter has a suspicion that if we played them ten times we would win our fair share of the games.
(Kills, Ace, Digs) Sydney Biltoft 3, 0,1; Aleah Heikkinen 7, 0, 5; Emma Epley 11, 2, 6; Elsa Jorgensen 0, 0, 7; Katelyn Mazour 1, 0, 9; Emily Troudt 0, 0, 0; Hanna Skinner 0, 0, 1; Kylie Beard 0, 0, 6; Kara Menke 5, 0,1.
Assists: Katelyn: 18 on 54 of 55; Emma 4 on 14 of 14.
Blocks: Solo: Sydney and Emma one each; Assists: Sydney 3, Emma 1, Kylie 1.
Serve Receive: Elsa 24 – 27, Aleah 15-17; Emma 8 – 8.
This week the girls host a triangular on Tuesday night and host Silver Lake on Thursday night. Next week they play in the tournament in Hastings.
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