ADEL — Perry varsity volleyball coach Kristel Schultz was not in the best of moods late Thursday evening.
Her Jayettes had just finished a 1-4 trip through the Adel Invitational, but what had the coach most upset was the fashion in which Perry’s matches were decided.
“We need to work on keeping the momentum when we have it,” Schultz said. “We cannot have four straight bad serves like we had at one point tonight. You just cannot let the other team run off a string of points, and then, when you stop it, you do not counter with a run of your own.”
Perry (4-8) opened with a 2-0 loss to Woodward-Granger on scores of 21-17, 21-18, but bounced back to top Knoxville, 2-0, with tallies of 21-17 and 21-7. Losses of 2-0 to ADM (21-15, 21-19) and to Norwalk (21-11, 21-17) followed, with Perry dropping a 2-1 decision to Newton — the Jayettes won game one, 21-18, before falling 21-15, 15-11 — to conclude their rotation.
The Jayettes were coming off a 2-4 mark at the 16-team Bondurant-Farrar Classic Saturday, and Schultz had hoped to see improvement in areas that had been targeted during the early stages of the week.
“I would have thought that the practices we had this week would have made a difference, as we worked specifically on some things we could have done better in Bondurant,” she explained. “Instead, our serve receive was not what it should have been, and when that happens it makes it hard to run the offense.”
Despite the rough outing, the Jayette coach said positives were also easy to find.
“We were very coachable tonight and for the most part were doing a good job of making the adjustments that were needed,” Schultz said. “I thought Grace Marburger, in particular, played well. She was very disciplined and made few mistakes.”
Marburger and Ellie Nielsen led the team with a combined 21 kills at the invite, with Sidney Vancil making 70 total assists. Libero player Mariah Duffy led the team with 14 digs, with Jo Diw providing five aces while serving.
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GILBERT– While the varsity traveled to Adel, coach Carol VanKirk directed the freshmen squad in a pair of matches.
The format called for the teams to play three sets, with a 50-minute time limit.
Perry fell to Gilbert, 21-12, 21-16 in their first two games, but scored a 15-12 win in the third tilt. Losses of 21-21 and 21-18 against Nevada followed, with Perry again rallying for a game in the third game, this time posting a 21-14 victory.
Adriana Eastman served 8-for-8 with three aces while also recording three kills for the Jayettes. Gabby West had two kills, with MacKenzie Ayers 10-11-3 behind the line while also providing seven assists.
