WOODWARD — The Woodward-Granger servers blistered Panorama Tuesday for 24 aces in a 3-0 WCAC sweep. The Hawks won on scores of 25-8, 25-12 and 25-17 to raise their record to 15-10 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
Panorama was put in some disarray only a few points into the first set when Morgan Johnk went down with an ankle injury and did not return. The extent of the injury is unknown, but the loss of Johnk threw the Panther rotation out of their comfort zone as the team fell to 6-16 and 1-5.
W-G junior Anna Tague served 22-of-23 and had 11 aces, tying a long-held school record for aces in a match set by Jaimie Myers.
Ashlyn Soelberg was 15-15-5, Julie Pitman 11-12-4 and Emma Drake 9-10-4 behind the line for the Hawks. Alyssa Bice and Kaycee Major were both 3-of-5, with Katelyn Bandstra 1-of-1 while Alissa Smeltzer misfired on her only attempt.
“We need to see progression from these girls,” W-G head coach Meg Jackson said. “Pieces of the puzzle are not coming together yet — sometimes they are in, sometimes they are not. We have to keep our setter in-system, because right not we are too predictable, and we have to get her to the net.”
Pitman finished with 11 kills and Ashley Gales with nine, with Bice adding five kills, Smeltzer two and Tague and Natalie Weaver one each. Gales made four blocks, Pitman three and Smeltzer one, with Drake distributing 25 assists and Weaver and Major one apiece.
“I am always asking the girls ‘Did the ball decide, or did you decide to end the play?” Jackson said. “We will keep working our raising our effort level.
“There is a lot of sacrifice in volleyball,” she added. “It is not comfortable to make the big play, but I preach on them all the time to get uncomfortable. The payoff will be a lot bigger if all of us are uncomfortable. If that happens the puzzle pieces will start coming together.”
Statistical information from Panorama was not available.
The Panthers return to play Saturday in the CAM Tournament, while W-G will join Ballard, Roland-Story and Saydel for the Perry Invitational Thursday, with play beginning at 4:30 p.m.
