Warriors volleyball caps off a busy week with four more wins

By Willis Patenaude 

The Warriors volleyball team was back on the grind last week, battling hard in every set and coming out on the winning side in four out of seven total matches bringing their overall record to 8-14, while they sit at 2-2 in the conference. 

Central kicked the week off with a home match on Tuesday against Clayton Ridge and while the Warriors fought hard throughout the four closely contested sets, they ultimately fell short with set scores of 21-25, 25-18, 20-25, and 19-25. 

“While the team fought hard, errors played a significant role in the outcome. Communication breakdowns, hitting errors, and serve receive struggles were key factors that contributed to the loss. Despite the setback, the team showed resilience and will look to clean up these areas as they move forward in the season,” coach Kelly Erickson said.

Leading the offense was Reese Berns with seven kills, followed by Alivia Wiley with six kills, and Katie Royer, Tori Sylvester, and Tessa Sylvester all contributed five kills. Ella Frieden also made a strong impact off the bench, adding four kills to the state sheet. Royer’s performance also stood out with a team leading 26 assists.

“I was pleased to see a wide range of athletes contributing to our offense,” Erickson said. 

The Warriors totaled 38 kills throughout the series, but also had 34 hitting errors, which is an area Erickson said, they are “actively working on improving to enhance our overall performance.” On defense, Tori Sylvester led the team with 25 digs, followed by Brylee Erickson, who added 21 digs. 

“We have a solid defensive group, but we need to continue working on reading the opponent’s attack more effectively. Improving this aspect of our game will help us strengthen our defensive presence and give us better opportunities to transition into offense,” Erickson said. 

At the serving line, the Warriors served at 91%, which met Erickson’s goal of maintaining a 90% or better serving rate in each game. Oakley Armstrong finished the night, serving 100% with 17 for 17 and collected four aces. Erickson also served well, going 19 for 21 with three aces, and Tori Sylvester contributed to the effort, serving 15 for 16 with two aces. 

“I was very pleased with our performance. Our serving continues to be a strength, and we’ll look to build on this consistency moving forward,” Erickson said.

On Thursday, the Warriors took on the MFL-Mar-Mac Bulldogs and came away with a three sets victory, with scores of 25-20, 25-20, and 25-19. 

“It was a great team effort, and I was proud of how well we played together. Our communication improved significantly, and the team’s cohesiveness was much stronger compared to earlier in the week. This victory was a direct result of better teamwork and collaboration on the court,” Erickson said. 

Tori Sylvester led the team both offensively and defensively with 15 kills and 16 digs, with Wiley, Armstrong, and Tessa Sylvester hitting five kills to round out the offensive attack. Armstrong led the defense with 14 digs, but was followed closely by Erickson and Wiley, who each finished with 11 digs and Royer played a key role in setting up the offense, leading the team with 29 assists. 

“We made significant improvements in our serve receive compared to earlier in the week, and we did a much better job of reading the opponent’s attacks. Offensively, we also improved in reading the defense, allowing us to place the ball more effectively and capitalize on opportunities,” Erickson said.   

The Warriors continued to have consistency serving, finishing at 91%, with Wiley serving a perfect 16 for 16 with one ace, followed by Erickson who went 15 for 16 with three aces, and Tori Sylvester finished 11 for 11 with one ace. 

“Our serving has been a major strength this year, and we hope to continue building on this consistency as the season progresses. It’s been a key part of our game, and we’re aiming to keep it that way,” Erickson said. 

On Saturday, we traveled to Decorah and started the day against a tough Jesup team. We came out strong in the first set, but ultimately fell short, losing 16-21 and 11-21. Despite the loss, the team showed effort and determination, but we struggled to maintain momentum against a talented opponent. We’ll take the lessons learned from this match as we continue to work on improving.  Leading the offense was Alivia Wiley with 5 kills, followed by Tori Sylvester with 4 kills. On defense, Katie Royer and Brylee Erickson each contributed 5 digs, with Alivia Wiley adding 4 digs. Unfortunately, we struggled with serve receive in this match, which is typically one of our strengths. We also struggled with serving, only serving 79% as a team. These breakdowns hindered our ability to stay in rhythm, but we’ll focus on getting back to form in future matches.

Saturday was by far the busiest day for the Warriors, competing in the 2024 Decorah Volleyball Tournament. They started the day against a tough Jesup team, and despite coming out strong in the first set, they would go on to lose in two sets.

“Despite the loss, the team showed effort and determination, but we struggled to maintain momentum against a talented opponent. We’ll take the lessons learned from this match as we continue to work on improving,” Erickson said. 

Wiley finished the game with five kills on offense, followed by Tori Sylvester with four kills. The defense was highlighted by Royer and Erickson who contributed five digs each, and Wiley added four more digs. 

“Unfortunately, we struggled with serve receive in this match, which is typically one of our strengths. We also struggled with serving, only serving 79% as a team. These breakdowns hindered our ability to stay in rhythm, but we’ll focus on getting back to form in future matches,” Erickson said. 

Another tough match against Riceville followed, and the Warriors started out slow, losing the first set 9-21, but they showed improvement in the second set Riceville’s tall lineup, losing by just six, 15-21. 

“The team demonstrated resilience and determination, and we will build on this momentum as we continue to refine our performance moving forward,” Erickson said. 

The Warriors served the ball well, achieving a team serving percentage of 96%, but were undone by errors, totaling 24 compared to Riceville’s 13. 

“While our serving was strong, these errors were costly and impacted our overall performance. We’ll need to focus on minimizing mistakes as we prepare for our next matches,” Erickson said.

Leading the way on offense was Tori Sylvester with six kills, followed by Armstrong with four kills and on defense, Royer put in a strong performance with nine digs and Erickson finished with eight. 

“The team showed effort on both sides of the court, but we’ll need to continue to work on consistency to improve our overall results in future matches,” Erickson commented about the loss. 

That would be the last loss of the week for the Warriors, who would rattle off three wins to close out the Decorah Tournament, starting against Postville, where they won a decisive victory with scores of 21-15 and 21-9. 

“We made progress by cutting down our errors to 17, though we still need to focus on limiting those further. As a team, we served at 90%, maintaining our strong serving performance. It was a solid way to end the day, and we’ll aim to build on this success moving forward,” Erickson said.  

The Warriors had a well-rounded offensive performance with multiple players contributing, including Tori Sylvester and Wiley, who each recorded four kills, followed by Armstrong with three kills, and Berns and Royer each had two kills. Royer also led the team with 14 assists. Erickson and Armstrong each had five digs on the defensive side of the ball, while Tori Sylvester contributed four digs, and Maci Keppler and Royer each had three digs. 

“This balanced effort on both offense and defense was key to our success in the match,” Erickson said. 

The next match was against MFL-Mar-Mac, and it was another tightly contested game, but the Warriors emerged victorious over the Bulldogs for the second time in a week, with a 2-1 win by the scores of 16-21, 21-15, and 15-11. 

“Even though we lost the first set, the team never gave up and showed great resilience, coming back to win the next two sets. This match demonstrated our ability to stay focused and fight back, a crucial skill as we continue through the season,” Erickson said.

The Warriors served at 88%, lower than coach Erickson would like, but they still managed to pull out the win. Frieden led the team on offense with nine kills, followed by Berns with four kills and Tori Sylvester with three kills. Royer orchestrated the offense, finishing with 19 assists. Defensively, Erickson had a team high 17 digs, followed by Royer with 12, Tori Sylvester had 11, and Armstrong finished with 10 digs. Tori Sylvester also had an outstanding performance at the service line, going 17 for 17 with five aces. 

“It was a hard-fought match, and our defense played a critical role in securing the win,” Erickson said.

The Warriors ended the day with a strong performance in a competitive match again Kingston, but ultimately came out on top by the scores of 21-15 and 21-10. Standout performances included Wiley, who served a perfect 11 for 11 with one ace, and Tori Sylvester went 9 for 9 with two aces. Wiley also led the team with five kills, followed by Tori Sylvester with four kills, and Royer once again led the offense, contributing 11 assists. On defense, Erickson led the team with 12 digs, followed by Royer with nine digs. 

“It was a solid all-around effort to close out the day,” Erickson said. 

The Warriors will get a bit of a respite this week, with just one home game on Tuesday, October 1st versus the Postville Pirates with action starting at 7:30pm.