By STEVE THOMPSON
Adair County Free Press
Nodaway Valley reserve units earned a split against Mount Ayr in volleyball action last Tuesday night, with the freshman team winning and the JV dropping their match.
The JV team lost in two sets, 21-14 and 21-18.
“We really struggled with our serve receive in the first set and had a really hard time getting a good pass to even be able to set up the ball,” said coach Tina Phillippi. “We had some big improvements in the second set, but still fell short.”
McKynli Newbury led the Wolverines in hitting, going 5-6 with a pair of kills. Haley Longobardi was 4-8 with two kills, while Naomi Daugherty was 3-4.
Longobardi was perfect from the service line, going 6-6 with two ace serves. Erin Rhoads was also perfect at 6-6 with one ace. Emma Cooney was 8-9 with one ace.
Rhoads and Jozie Christensen had three digs apiece to lead the way in that department.
Rhoads and Newbury had one assist apiece.
Phillippi had words of encouragement for her team.
“If we keep improving on our serve receive, we will be able to set up our offense and get some great hits,” she said. “It is still early for the JV season, and they have a lot of potential to make this season strong.”
Wheelers Win
The JV team dropped a two-set match to Audubon, 25-23 and 25-21, last Thursday night.
“Even though we did not come out on top, we played pretty well tonight,” said Phillippi. “We did a nice job at the net and digging the ball.”
Daugherty and Newbury both finished 8-8 in hitting. Daugherty had four kills, while Newbury had one. Macy Kuhns was 10-14 with two kills.
Newbury was a bright spot at the service line, going 13-13 with four aces. Rhoads was 7-8 with two aces, while Cooney finished 4-5 with a pair of aces. Overall, the Wolverines were just 83 percent from the line.
“We struggled serving tonight,” Phillippi said. “We missed serves at key times. At one point during the second set, we missed three serves in a row. That is definitely something we will be working on to improve.”
Christensen, Newbury and Kuhns had six digs each. Newbury added two blocks, with Rhoads and Lonsdale adding three and two assists , respectively.
The loss dropped the JV to 1-3 on the year.
Freshmen roll
The NV freshmen defeated Mount Ayr, 21-10 and 21-13 in its season opener.
“The girls played with a lot of energy and were having fun with these two sets,” said coach Brett Welsch.
Whitney Lamb led the way in hitting, going 8-11 with two kills. Haley Longobardi was 1-1 with one kill.
Jozie Christensen was 7-8 with four aces from the service line, while Lamb finished 7-9 with four aces. Lamb also led the team in digs with six.
Rose Lonsdale had three assists, while Erin Rhoads had one.