Loyal volleyball gains decisive victory over Mondovi

At home last Thursday, the Loyal Greyhound volleyball team demonstrated their abilities with a decisive win over Mondovi, three sets to none.

The game began on a high note with Danielle Strey serving up 14 unanswered points for the Greyhounds.

“Danielle has a great serve and we love when she gets to start us out in a game! She stayed consistent and we knew that we had to be prepared to answer for defense with nothing hitting the floor,” wrote Loyal coach Jaedyn Pieper in an email.

The Greyhounds easily racked up points, including from an ace serve from Strey, a tip by Olivia Nikolai and a hit by Addysen Wolf, as well as from some Mondovi mistakes. When the score was 5-0, Mondovi called a timeout. However, that did little to halt the Greyhounds’ momentum. Loyal scored nine more points before Mondovi finally got on the board with a well-placed hit to a gap in the center.

It didn’t take long for the Greyhounds to get it back, though. Mondovi served out, offering Loyal an opportunity. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, as Loyal made an error on the next play, sending it back to Mondovi. But soon the Hounds got the ball back and this time they held onto it. Throughout the rest of the set, strong blocking by Loyal coupled with mistakes by Mondovi kept the Greyhounds well ahead.

“Blocking has been one skill we have really started improving on. Taya Rakovec was a key block for us last night in our win. She follows that ball really well and reads a great block,” noted Pieper.

The Greyhounds wrapped up the set 25-8.

For as easily as Loyal won the first set, the other sets proved to be much more of a challenge.

Mondovi was the first to strike in the second set, with a kill to the back corner, just out of Loyal’s reach. Loyal attempted to return the favor on the next play, but spiked the ball out of bounds. However, on the following point, Strey blocked a Mondovi hit, causing the ball to fall right in front of the Mondovi team. Once the Greyhounds got the serve back, they wasted no time tying with Mondovi and taking the lead, a lead they would maintain for the rest of the game.

Loyal got as far ahead as 16-7, a ninepoint gap. But before the Greyhounds could get too comfortable, the Buffaloes came charging. Loyal lost a point on a foot fault, and a few more points from an out-of-bounds hit and a couple of bad passes. In addition, a Loyal block attempt slowed down the ball, but resulted in it landing out of bounds. Mondovi also found a couple of gaps in Loyal coverage. Before the Greyhounds knew it, Mondovi had crept up on them and was only trailing by three points, 21-18. Loyal scored another point and so did Mondovi, to make it 22-19. A Mondovi error caused Loyal to get the ball back. On the next serve, after a drawnout, back-and-forth volley, Mondovi finally hit it just out of bounds for Loyal’s point. Loyal’s Mya Rueth served and Mondovi couldn’t get under the ball well, resulting in a poor pass and the ball bouncing off course. With that, Loyal sealed the deal, getting the 25-19 win.

Loyal had just one more set to win in the best-of-five match. The Greyhounds started out with the lead, going ahead as much as 7 points, helped by Mondovi mistakes like a short hit, illegal substitution and four touches on a side. Along with that, Mya Rueth went on a four-point serving run, including an ace serve right down the sideline. Pieper had a lot of positive things to say about Loyal’s serving overall.

“The girls have dialed in on their serving this past week,” she wrote. “They’ve realized the importance of their serves and not giving up free points. I would like to recognize two athletes. Aside from Danielle Strey and her serving runs, Olivia Nikolai has refocused on her serving skills and had zero serving errors for the team last night. Laila Prior has stepped up as a sophomore and right now her role is serving specialist.”

Loyal gave away very few points on wayward serves. Also in the beginning of that third set, Strey and Nikolai contributed kills. When the Greyhounds were up 14-7, though, Mondovi started fighting back. The Buffaloes spiked the ball to the corner for a point, followed by Loyal’s hit landing out of bounds on the next play. Loyal started to lose momentum, and a lack of communication led to the ball dropping in the middle of the court.

Mondovi battled its way back into it with the two teams eventually tying at 20, and then again at 22. On the next volley, Wolf got a kill. The following point also went to Loyal, as Mondovi had two touches in a row. On the game point, Mondovi sent a powerful spike over the net, but the Greyhound girls let it go, predicting it would be out, and indeed it was. That was enough to give the Greyhounds the 25-22 set win and the overall 3-0 win.

Hope Peroshek led the team in digs on the night, Strey led in assists and Rakovec led in blocks.

“We now have a tournament this weekend and our goal is to stay up. The girls are very quick on coverage, but we need to adapt to different swings coming our way. The girls need to continue improving their game in practice and continue pushing through in games,” said Pieper heading into last weekend.

Other games Loyal also played Blair-Taylor (B-T) Sept. 5, defeating B-T three sets to none. Autumn Zvolena led the team with 10 kills for the night, followed up by Wolf with eight kills. Danielle Strey provided 23 assists and Peroshek had 13 digs.

Molly Zvolena of Loyal spikes the ball over the defensive wall put up by Mondovi for a successful kill during the Sept. 7 match.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO