Volleyball team sweeps McFarland, Evansville
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Another weekend, another trip to face some of the best teams in the state.
All in the life of the East Troy High School volleyball squad – and once again, the Trojans more than held their own.
East Troy posted a 2-2 record at Saturday’s Brookfield Central Invitational. The Trojans defeated Brookfield East 25-13, 19-25, 15-9 and Oshkosh West 25-16, 25-16, and fell to Appleton North 21-25, 26-28 and to Mukwonago 22-25, 25-19, 9-15.
“I was very pleased with our overall performance at this weekend’s tourney,” East Troy coach Jeremy Weis said. “I felt like we took another step in our development as a team.”
The goals never change regardless of the competition that’s across the net, Weis said.
“Our goals are simple when we go up against any team,” he said. “(We need to) do the little things right, stay disciplined and to win every match we play.
“No team scares the girls. They are confident in their training, and it doesn’t matter if the team we are playing is (Division 1) or 3. We need to focus on our areas of improvement.”
Leading the way in the opener were M.E. Dodge with 17 kills; Brianna Scuric with eight kills; Mati Jakscht with seven digs and 25 assists; and Carly Atchison with seven digs.
Against Oshkosh West, Dodge tallied 13 kills and 15 digs, followed by Scuric with 12 kills and four blocks; Katrina Santos with five blocks; Atchison with eight digs; and Jakscht with 26 assists.
Jakscht, just a freshman, filled in for her sister, Chloe, who sustained a concussion earlier in the week. Weis said he hopes to see the elder Jakscht back in the lineup this weekend.
“Matison stepped in and did a great job running the offense,” Weis said. “I asked the team to help her out by focusing on the things that we can control, especially serve-receive and defense. Those two areas I was pleased with the most.
“That allowed Mati to focus on finding the right hitters and not have to constantly be running all over the floor. We were all impressed with her work ethic on the day.”
Leading the Trojans in the loss to Appleton North were Dodge with 15 digs, 10 kills and four blocks; Scuric with seven kills; and Jakscht with 18 assists.
In the finale, Dodge collected 13 kills and 10 digs, followed by Santos with eight kills and eight digs; Atchison with 14 digs; and Jakscht with 25 assists.
Weis said he was pleased with the energy his team brought to the floor, even in its two close losses.
“We were keeping our spirits up,” he said. “Brianna Scuric does a great job in that department. She has embraced that role, and it really helps the team.
“I also felt that our serve-receive was top notch all weekend. We were in system most times during each of the matches.”
But there’s also always something to work on, Weis added.
“We just need to keep fine tuning the little things,” he said. “For example, we need to figure out our timing a bit better on our blocs, and we need to be able to make some adjustments when setting up our blocks.”
East Troy heads back to Rock Valley Conference action this week with matches Tuesday at Jefferson and Thursday against visiting Whitewater.
Weis wants his team to just stay the course as the schedule now begins to pick up some steam.
“(We need to) be able to play within ourselves and not to try to do too much,” he said. “We have some very talented players on this team, and if they all work on the little things, we will have a great week.”
Trojans sweep two
Prior to the tournament, East Troy posted RVC sweeps over Evansville Sept. 8 and at McFarland Sept. 10.
The Trojans beat Evansville 25-17, 25-17, 25-13, followed by a 25-21, 25-19, 25-12 win over McFarland.
Leading the way in the opener were Dodge with 18 kills, three blocks and 13 digs; Scuric with eight kills; and Chloe Jakscht with 26 assists.
In the McFarland match, Dodge had three aces, 11 dis and 22 kills, followed by Santos with eight kills; Scuric with seven kills; Natalee Bearce with seven kills; Chloe Jakscht with 34 assists and eight digs; and Atchison with 14 digs.
