Bulldogs pick up pair of UIC wins
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
The MFL MarMac volleyball team picked up two more Upper Iowa Conference victories on Sept. 30, sweeping both Kee and Postville in a quad at Kee.
The Bulldogs blazed past Kee 25-16 in the opening set, then 25-15 in set two, boosted by a .169 kill efficiency. Payton McElwaine cranked out eight kills, Blair Winter seven and Lily Johnson six, while Addison Corlett collected 20 assists.
MFL MarMac had no blocks, but the back row defense was strong, led by a nine-dig effort by Corlett. Lily Johnson contributed seven and Lauryn Johnson five. McElwaine and Maddie Keehner each had four digs.
Serve efficiency was just below 90 percent, but the Bulldogs still managed seven aces. That included two from Lily Johnson, who made 12 of her 14 serve attempts. Keehner was 9/10 with an ace and Corlett 8/9, also with an ace. Alexa McElwaine served just twice in the match—and they were both aces.
Avenging a loss to the Pirates just a few days earlier, MFL MarMac swept last week’s match-up 25-16 and 25-12. The Bulldogs compiled a kill efficiency of .136 in this game, with Payton McElwaine, Lily Johnson and Winter all recording four kills. Devon Meyer had three and Keehner two. Corlett dished out 17 assists.
Defensively, Alexa McElwaine notched the team’s only block, while Lauryn Johnson hit double digits with 10 digs. Lily Johnson and Kensey Ball each picked up five digs and Macy McGeough and Meyer had four apiece.
From the service line, Ball was a perfect 12/12 with an ace. Corlett completed nine of her 11 attempts—four of which were aces. Lily Johnson also smashed four aces and hit seven of eight serves overall. The Bulldogs’ team serve efficiency was 87.8 percent.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the week with a 3-1 loss at South Winneshiek on Oct. 2. After going down 25-18 in the first set, MFL MarMac fought back to take the second 25-22. However, South Winn sealed the victory with 25-17 and 25-18 scores in the third and fourth frames.
The Warriors minimized kill errors and, likewise, made it tough for the Bulldogs at the net, recording nine blocks. They also performed well from the service line, making 91.1 percent and racking up 10 aces.
Lily Johnson paced the MFL MarMac offense with 11 kills and Winter earned 10. Keehner added seven kills and Payton McElwaine five. Corlett turned in 27 assists and was one of the team’s best defenders with 14 digs. Lauryn Johnson topped that category with 25. Lily Johnson had 13 digs and Ball and Hadyn Meyer netted nine apiece.
Winter came up big with three blocks—two solo and one assist—and Keehner and Lily Johnson each tallied two.
MFL MarMac’s serve efficiency fell to 86.1 percent in this match. Corlett had a strong 17/17 night, including an ace, and Hadyn Meyer completed all 14 of her attempts. Ball was 13/15 with a pair of aces.
“I’m proud of the defensive effort—84 digs compared to their 50 shows how determined we were to keep rallies alive,” said head coach Becky Johnson. “I thought we did a good job of slowing down their offense with eight blocks and forcing them into tough swings.”
“Where we struggled was on our own side,” Johnson continued. “We had 31 hitting errors and 11 service errors, and those mistakes gave South Winneshiek too many points. Our serving percentage was below our season average, and we allowed them to go on some big runs. At the end of the day, it wasn’t them beating us—it was us beating ourselves.”
The Bulldogs are now 12-19 overall and 4-3 in the Upper Iowa Conference. This week, they hosted a quad with South Winn, Clayton Ridge and Turkey Valley on Oct. 7.
“We still have everything to fight for,” Johnson said. “I’m proud of how far this group has come, but we know we have more to overcome. If we can clean up our errors and trust our game, I know we can finish strong.”
