MENOMINEE — One team’s comeback is another team’s meltdown, and depending on which side of the fence their team fell on, a packed Menominee High School gym either cheered or rued the result of Tuesday’s non-conference girls volleyball match between the Lady Maroons and Stephenson.
Tuesday’s contest saw the two teams combine for 20 ties, with a modest eight points representing the biggest lead for either squad.
In fact, all three sets were decided by a combined 10 points, but unfortunately for the home crowd, the Lady Maroons were on the wrong side of all three decisions, as the Lady Eagles swept Menominee 3-0.
“Things just didn’t go our way tonight, and with the way we’ve been playing lately, it’s extra rough,” Menominee coach Sarah Betzinger said. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and build up from there.”
Stephenson edged Menominee in the opening set 25-22 but the Lady Maroons appeared headed for victory in set two, after aces from Addy Johnson and Tylee Buscher made it a 17-9 contest.
Menominee was able to seize a match-point opportunity but watched it quickly evaporate as the Lady Eagles reeled off four unanswered points to tie matters up at 24-24.
Two aces from Olivia Cappaert later, and Stephenson walked to its bench with a 26-24 triumph and a 2-0 set lead.
“We started off those first two sets pretty slow and looked tentative, like we weren’t confident in our play,” Stephenson coach Jackson Miller said. “Maybe these girls don’t realize how good they are or how good they can be, but it’s frustrating because that’s been a theme for us this year.”
“It was a big shift and the girls were frustrated after that. For some reason, they were really hard on themselves tonight and I’m not sure why,” Betzinger added “We couldn’t get the ball to drop tonight. We’ve relied on hitting on getting those kills, and Stephenson is scrappy and were able to get underneath them.”
Set three saw the lead change hands six times in the early goings before an ace by Jazmine Havelka helped nudge the Lady Eagles out to a 14-11 advantage.
Menominee fought back to pull within one before points from Maddie Vista, Alayna Strahl and Melissa Johnson gave Stephenson a 24-18 lead and a chance to close matters out with one more drop of the ball.
The Lady Maroons notched back-to-back points to cut Stephenson’s lead to four, but Cappaert sealed Menominee’s fate with a dig over the net to give the Lady Eagles the 25-20 victory.
“We were able to chip away slowly and it felt like we had momentum from about halfway through the second set right on through,” Miller said. “I am proud of the girls for how they finished, but we need to be more consistent or those slow starts will come back to hurt us.”
Up next
Menominee: The Lady Maroons were at Carney-Nadeau on Thursday, with results unavailable at press time. Menominee’s varsity team heads to Marquette for the Redette Rumble on Saturday at 7:30 a.m., while the freshmen Lady Maroons hold their home invitational on Saturday at 8 a.m.
Stephenson: The Lady Eagles were at Forest Park on Thursday, with results unavailable at press time. Stephenson hosts North Dickinson at 6:30 p.m. on October 1.
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