DCVI Junior Girls Volleyball team wins double header at home

By Turner Roth

The St. Marys DCVI Junior Girls Volleyball team went undefeated at home on Jan. 13, winning their two games against F.E. Madill and South Huron.

In the game against Madill, the Salukis won each of the first two sets by identical scores of 25-21. Head coach Cooper Preszcator credited the team’s energy and communication as key factors in the wins.

“They played really well,” Preszcator told the Independent. “We switched up who got to start and got a lot of the girls in, and everyone played well. Communication and energy were key. They came out with a lot of energy and it really helped us get off to a good start. We beat Madill two straight in sets, and I would say a lot of that was just energy driven.”

In the second game versus South Huron, St. Marys went down 14 straight points from a strong serving performance by South Huron, eventually dropping the first set 25-11. However, after a discussion between sets, the Salukis found a new rhythm. They managed to control South Huron’s serves and bounced back to win the second and third sets by scores of 25-11 and 27-25.

Preszcator praised the all-around performance from the Salukis, as well as their ability to bounce back following the first set.

“South Huron had a really good group of girls that could serve extremely well,” said Preszcator. “We dropped 14 points in a row to one server. It can be hard to keep morale high after dropping 14 points in a row, but they were able to come back and win the next two sets. We had a little chat between sets and they got fired up again, and we were able to stop the good serves the next set. Again, switching up girls was big. Sometimes you see the same six players every game, but we put out all the girls pretty well and had great results because of it.”

When asked about what fueled the comeback performance, Preszcator mentioned the team’s setting, hitting and attacking as big factors in the comeback win.

“Brooklynn Roth’s setting was awesome. She found her groove in the second set against Madill. All of our hitters made an impact. All of them started swinging last practice instead of just sending over and pushing it to a corner, we wanted to get more attacks going, and everybody was doing that. Our left side and right side hitters were all just swinging hard and getting some good hits, which was nice to see.

“Our best attribute was our communication and positivity and swinging. We need to work on our serve receive, which is a technical thing to work on. It’s nice to see that the issue isn’t their behaviour or attitude. We dropped 14 points from serves, and we know that serve receiving will be the next thing to work on, and hopefully that improves next time.”

The two wins inflated St. Marys’ record to five wins and one loss, which has the Salukis in first place in the Huron-Perth standings with league play on hold until Feb. 3 as students enter exam season. Preszcator said the team is striving for a WOSSAA berth.

“We’re 5-1 right now, so I don’t think it’s unrealistic to try and win or play in Huron-Perth and potentially going into WOSSAA as a single-A school,” said Preszcator. “Getting to WOSSAA would be awesome. They’re a skilled group of girls and they have good energy when we’re playing games. If we can practice and play with that same energy, I think we can get there.”