Breakthrough win for Raiderettes, coach Braby

MURRAY — There’s just a small price to pay for Tori Braby finally getting her first coaching victory over dad.

Thanksgiving dinner.

“She can bring the turkey this Thanksgiving,” said Murray coach Jerry Shields, father of both Braby and his Lady Mustang assistant, Kristin Shields.

Last year, Mount Ayr’s season ended in a five-set regional loss on the same court in the Jerry Brown Gymnasium where Braby graduated in 2002 as a former player for her father.

“Our girls asked me how many times I’ve ever won against dad,” Braby said Monday night. “I said none. They said they were going to fix it. They fixed it pretty big time!”

Mount Ayr (18-7) swept the 12-5 Lady Mustangs in convincing fashion, 25-18, 25-14, 25-10, behind the one-two attacking punch of juniors Kelcie Shields (19 kills) and Tessa Shields (14 kills).

For good measure, senior Kirsten Dolecheck had more kills (seven) than the Murray leader for the night, Jade Lecy (six).

“Too many weapons,” coach Shields said. “We started out doing exactly what I wanted us to do — get a hand on the ball when Kelcie was hitting it. We did a good job of that in the first 10-12 points and stayed right with them. Then we went through a lot of lulls where we weren’t attacking the ball back, playing too much defense and just bumping and passing the ball back. Against a good team like that, they’re going to pound it back at you every chance they get. We have to attack the other way more consistently.”

Kelcie Shields, Mount Ayr’s 6-foot-2 middle hitter, had six total blocks.

Solid defense

Distributing the ball on offense were Alyssa Johnson and Macy Larsen with 24 and 14 assists, respectively. Libero Blair Glendenning triggered an effective passing attack, finishing with a match-high 18 digs.

“Blair is all over the place,” Braby said. “She gets her hands on balls other girls wouldn’t even dream about getting. She can really read the ball and she’s quick. She’s pushing herself in the gym all the time. She doesn’t get worn down.”

Varied attack

It wasn’t all thumping bombs off the hands of the front row leaders for the Raiderettes. Many points came on well-placed tips and dumps.

“I try to teach them that a kill is any time the ball hits the floor, it doesn’t always have to be something hard,” Braby said. “I knew Murray was going to come out and double block Kelcie. Tessa Shields stepped up tonight and made a lot of big plays. We do a good job of seeing the floor.”

Coach Shields said his team’s defense was caught on its heels against the variety of Mount Ayr’s attack.

“Most of the time when I’ve scouted them before, Tessa went across the court with her tips,” Shields said. “Tonight she went down the line a lot and we weren’t ready for that.”

The first two sets ended with long service runs by Glendenning and Alyssa Johnson. Johnson ended with five service aces and Larsen had four. Glendenning served 13-13.

“We work on serve receive a lot, but our serve receive went south as we ended up at 45 percent on the evening,” Shields said. “I think that’s probably the best team we’ll see all year. I expect they to get quite a ways down the tourney trail.”

Shelby Myers had four kills, six digs and served 11-of-12 with an ace for Murray. Brandi Gilbert served 11-11 and had 10 setting assists. Madison Gonseth contributed seven solo blocks and seven digs.

While Murray is idle until the Martensdale-St. Marys tournament on Saturday, there’s no time for rest with the Raiderettes, who host East Union tonight in the last regular season conference match.

“We have the number one seed in the (Pride of Iowa) west wrapped up, but the girls want to go 5-0 on that side and get a win (Tuesday),” Braby said. “They have some high goals.”

In conference tournament play, Mount Ayr will serve as an opening night host on Monday against probably Wayne and Southwest Valley, Braby said, with the semifinal and finals on Tuesday at Truro.

“Last year we made the finals and lost by just a few points in the fifth set to Nodaway Valley,” Braby said. “These girls want to get back there and get another chance.”

Statistics

Serving (aces) — M: Shelby Myers 11-12 (1), Brandi Gilbert 11-11, Kayla Siefkas 7-7, Madison Gonseth 6-6, Courtney Titus 4-4. MA: Alyssa Johnson 16-18 (5), Macy Larsen 17-17 (4), Blair Glendenning 13-13, Kelcie Shields 7-9 (1), Sadie Frost 4-5.

Attacks (kills) — M: Jade Lecy 6, Shelby Myers 4, Gonseth 3, Zoie Lecy 3. MA: K. Shields 19, Tessa Shields 14, Kirsten Dolecheck 7.

Blocks (solo-assists) — M: J. Lecy 9-0, Gonseth 7-0. MA: K. Shields 3-3, Frost 3-1, Johnson 1-2, Larsen 0-2.

Setting (assists) — M: Gilbert 10. MA: Johnson 24, Larsen 14.

Digs — M: Gonseth 7, J. Lecy 6, Myers 6, Courtney Titus 4, Gilbert 3. MA: Glendenning 18, Johnson 9, Frost 6, Larsen 4, K. Shields 4.

Serve receive — M: Gonseth 13-15, Myers 8-11, Gilbert 7-8.