Rockets lose two conference matches

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

Paton-Churdan’s volleyball team lost two conference matches this week. On Oct. 2, they faced league leading Coon Rapids/Bayard and lost 3-0. The Crusaders entered the contest with a 17-5 overall record and were 9-0 against Rolling Valley competition and five seniors that had played together for several years. CR-B has played almost 20 more games this season and had better numbers in every statistical category. The one that is most apparent is blocks. The Crusaders came into the contest with 96 blocks compared to 18 for the Rockets. On paper, it appeared to be a mismatch, and it was. “Coon Rapids-Bayard was a tough team that challenged us throughout the entire night,” said coach Hannah Boehmer. “ Our freshmen had some wonderful defensive moments led by Grace Geisler and Maria Tasler, while Sydney Koch led us in kills.”

Scores of the games were 11-25, 17-25, and 20-25. Leading servers in the game were Kristen LeFebvre 17/17 with one ace, Maria Tasler 6/6 with one ace, and Mariah Tasler 6/6. Koch had 12 of the team’s 14 kills. She also had 13 digs, while Geisler was credited with 10 digs. Mariah Tasler led the team with nine assists.

The foe appeared to be less formidable when the Rockets hosted Adair-Casey on Oct. 7. The Bombers entered with a 4-11 record. Unfortunately,     P-C’s most experienced player, Sydney Koch, twisted her ankle in warm ups and could not play. The match had to start, and Coach Boehmer and the rest of the team had little time to discuss or practice how to cover Koch’s position.

The Rockets did a good job the first game. They never led, but they were never far behind either. When the Bombers would get up by five points, Paton-Churdan would make some plays and get back within a couple of points. Adair-Casey finally did prevail winning 20-25. A-C dominated the next two games and won both 9-25. “Although we suffered a big blow to our line-up when Sydney got injured during warm ups, the rest of the team really stepped up their level of play in game one. Reilly did a great job of adjusting to a new position, and Grace showed a lot of leadership. We played well in game one, but missed serves and dropped balls led to a narrow victory for Adair-Casey. Games two and three were plagued by a loss of focus and sloppy play” said the coach. Leading servers in the match were Geisler who went 6/6 with one ace, and LeFebvre who was successful on 7/7 and had one ace.  Niles led the team with eight kills, and Geisler had 13 digs.