Rockets go 1-3 in RVC tourney, end season in Round 1 of regionals

By MARTY BALL
sports@beeherald.com

Paton-Churdan’s varsity volleyball team took part in the Rolling Valley Conference tournament last week and then had its 2015 season come to an end on Tuesday during the first round of Class 1-A regionals.

On Day 1 of the RVC tournament, hosted by Coon Rapids-Bayard on Thursday, the Rockets defeated CAM 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) and fell to both Ar-We-Va 2-1 (19-21, 23-21, 8-15) and CR-B 2-1 (21-10, 16-21, 12-15).

Against Ar-We-Va, Rocket stat leaders included Sydney Koch with nine kills, eight digs and two blocks, Megan Carey with two kills, eight digs and a block, Grace Geisler with two kills and eight digs, Carleigh Paup with two kills, eight digs, five assists and three blocks and Mariah Tasler with two digs, eight assists and a block.

“We got off to a great start in set one, but didn’t come out ahead,” head coach Hannah Boehmer said. “Even though it was a close finish in set two, we kept control throughout and made some great adjustments. Things took a turn in set three as we had a rough start in serve receive and seemed to fall apart mentally.”

Against CR-B, stat leaders were Koch with nine kills, 13 digs and a block, Carey with five kills, three digs and a block, Geisler with three kills and nine digs, Paup with two kills, five digs and six assists and Jenna Beyers with a kill, six digs and two blocks.

“The girls did a great job recovering from their loss to Ar-We-Va and won decisively against Coon in set one,” Boehmer extolled. “In set two, we got off to a good start, but began to struggle defensively. While we didn’t win set three, the team played much better than our first match against them earlier this season.”

Against CAM, stat leaders included Koch with seven kills, 11 digs and two blocks, Carey with six kills, three digs and a block, Geisler with five kills and six digs, Beyers with four kills, two digs and two blocks and Paup with five digs and eight assists.
“It took us some time to recover from our close loss to Coon, but the girls fought through to earn their way to the second half of the conference tournament,” Boehmer explained.

On Day 2, hosted by West Harrison on Saturday, the Rockets fell to Glidden-Ralston 2-1 (25-15, 17-25, 13-15) in the quarterfinal round to complete their efforts at the conference tournament. No individual stats were given for that match.

“Although the girls didn’t earn the win today, they fought hard throughout the match and played at a high level,” Boehmer said. “We got off to a great start, keeping control of play to win set one by 10. We had a lot of energy and were playing aggressively, but between Glidden taking the lead and our hitters starting to struggle with consistency, we lost confidence in set two. We recovered well going into the third set and played right with Glidden until the end, only losing by a narrow two points.”

At Adair-Casey, the Rockets were swept 3-0 (12-25, 24-26, 23-25) to end their season at the net. Stat leaders for Paton-Churdan included Koch with 18 kills, 27 digs and two blocks, Beyers with four kills, 15 digs and a block, Geisler with three kills, 10 digs and a block, Carey with two kills, eight digs and four blocks, Paup with a kill, seven digs, 12 assists and five blocks, Mariah Tasler with a dig and 12 assists and Maria Tasler with six digs.

“This was the third time we’ve faced A-C this year, so we had a good idea of what to expect,” Boehmer concluded. “We just had a slow start in the first set that seemed to be due to slow reactions to plays and a lack of movement on defense. In the second set, we seemed to gain back a lot of confidence and aggressiveness. The front row did a great job of shutting them down with blocks as well. In the beginning of the third, our offense was really clicking and we were playing together. As A-C began to work their way back, I think the girls started to play it safe and mentally fell apart.

“The girls showed a tremendous amount of growth over the season,” she added. “We are still a very young team with over half our starters either freshmen or sophomores. Seeing where we were able to get this year makes me excited to see what the girls are able to accomplish next        season.”