Lady Tigercats’ volleyball wins over Touchet

The Lady Tigercats volleyball team hosted the Touchet Lady Indians in a preseason match on Sept. 19 and earned a win over the league competitors. The match lasted for five sets, with scores of 14-25; 25-22; 16-25; 25-20; 15-11.

On Sept. 24, the Lady Tigercats played another preseason match against St. John-Endicott, who earned a win over the LW team in three sets: 20-25, 9-25, 12-25.

The Lady Tigercats faced Touchet in a non-league game and set the standard for upcoming league play, which begins next Tuesday against St. John-Endicott. The LW team is continuing to focus on transitioning and serve receive to prepare for upcoming games.

In the match against Touchet, the Lady Tigercats had a slow start as the Lady Indians gained points by finding holes in the defense. The Lady Indians relied on Cierra Jo McKeown to lead the team offensively and McKeown racked up 20 kills against the LW team during the five-set match.

The Lady Tigercats matched momentum with Touchet during the second set, and an increase in communication between players helped the LW team earn the second set win. The team relied heavily on senior athlete Kadie Whinery and freshman Britte Harder to lead the team at the net both offensively and defensively.

“In our Touchet game, Kadie Whinery really took the lead in our stats. She has really focused on moving to the ball and has become very aggressive,” head coach Sarah Mayer said.

“The largest improvement I see on the court is Britte Harder becoming more and more confident as a middle. She continues to fight for the ball and work hard at the net to get a block in as well as improving her hitting,” said Mayer.

Whinery led the Lady Tigercats with seven kills, eight digs and one block. Britte Harder earned one block, as did Nicole Harder. Lindsey Miller provided the team with 11 assists, and Gail Harder led the team from the serving stripe with one ace.

The Lady Tigercats struggled throughout the sets to transition to tips or the ball coming off of a block.

Mayer said the team is working on moving towards the net and providing coverage for the blockers and the potential short game from the opposing team.

“Transition is a main focus for our team,” Mayer said. “We need to be able to move to the ball and then transition back to our defensive base. The girls have really improved on covering and transitioning back to our defensive bases. We will continue to emphasize transitioning speed while keeping our eye on the ball. While the girls are improving in this area, it is still one of the main areas of growth for our team.”

The Lady Tigercats, who have been dominant from the serving line in early games, struggled to connect on Thursday night. Mayer said the team is going to refocus on serving before league games start next week, but the team is going to concentrate on serve receive.

“Serve receive is a main emphasis for us. The girls struggled a bit during our last game, but with communication the girls were able to adjust to the server as well as accommodate to fill our holes. The key elements to improving our serve receive are reading the server, calling the ball and moving to the ball positioning ourselves to receive the ball in the center of our bodies,” Mayer explained.

In the final two sets of the night, the Lady Tigercats set the tempo, being led by Whinery, to achieve the preseason win.

Mayer said the win was achieved with strong communication and enthusiasm for their teammates success, but the team is continually working to improve before beginning league play.

“I feel that Touchet has a lot of talent and is well organized,” Mayer said. “I think that we matched up well, they are strong at the net and have strong servers. The next time we face them we need to get the momentum going in our favor right away. I feel that it took us a little while to get our heads in the game on Thursday.”

The Lady Tigercats fell to St. John-Endicott in the Tuesday match, and were led by Gail Harder with three kills and Nicole Harder who racked up 15 digs during the match. Miller provided the team with eight assists, and also led the team in serving with two aces.

“There is strong competition in our league,” Mayer explained. “We have to work on remaining focused and celebrating all of our success. We believe that winning is a byproduct of working hard and having fun.”

The Lady Tigercats face St. John-Endicott in the first league game of the season in St. John on Tuesday, Oct. 1.