Volleyball team undefeated in conference play
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A little lighter schedule before another huge weekend gave East Troy High School girls volleyball coach Jeremy Weis a chance to shake things up a bit last week.
And still the Trojans responded just fine.
East Troy rolled to two more Rock Valley Conference victories, a 25-9, 25-10, 25-15 decision Sept. 15 at Jefferson, followed by a 25-14, 25-14, 25-17 win Sept. 17 over Whitewater.
The sweep improved the Trojans to 4-0 in the RVC and 10-5 overall. East Troy entered last week ranked third in the latest Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Division 2 poll.
“(Against Whitewater), we changed up the lineup quite a bit,” Weis said. “We are nursing some injuries and are looking to get healthy here really soon.
“We know that (this) week is huge for us with our two conference matches and the Sprawl (Tournament), so it was great to see that the girls can handle change whenever it is thrown at them. It was also great to see that we are still making improvements throughout the season.”
Leading the way against Whitewater were Bina Scuric with 12 kills and five aces; Katrina Santos with nine kills; Juliana Friedrichs with five kills and three blocks; M.E. Dodge with 14 digs; and Mati Jakscht with 25 assists.
Weis said the goals against the Whippets didn’t change – even if some of the lineup did.
“We need to be fine tuning our play at high level,” he said. “We are striving to perfect our play in order for us to make a strong push in the playoffs.
“I’m asking the girls to be aggressive and explosive in everything that they are doing. Each match that goes by, we are seeing players making improvements to their game, and that’s what is important at this point of the season.”
The match also gave Jakscht another chance for extended playing time in relief of her sister, Chloe, who remained sidelined from the effects of a concussion.
And it certainly never hurts to have even more depth, Weis said.
“I think that this is exactly what Mati needed at this point of the season,” he said. “She got to play another role for the team, but more importantly, she got to stay on the floor the entire match.
“Matison is used to playing all the time during the club seasons. This year has been a different mindset for her. So for her to be out there and being able to forget about the last play and move onto the next was a great thing for her.”
Against Jefferson, Dodge had 17 kills, followed by Scuric with 15 kills and four aces; Santos with eight kills; Jakscht with 17 digs and 29 assists; and Carly Atchison with nine digs.
The Trojans were solid with their serving, led by Friedrichs, Weis said.
“We took them out of what they wanted to do and it made the match a bit easier for us,” he said. “(Friedrichs) was serving the ball very aggressively through the window all night, which led to some easier points.”
Big week ahead
East Troy was back in action Tuesday night against visiting Edgerton, followed by a road trip to Evansville Thursday.
The Trojans then will compete in the two-day Sprawl Invitational at West Bend East this weekend.
Always one of the top tournaments every year, the Sprawl includes a number of the state’s top-ranked teams in all divisions.
“(The Sprawl) is always the key to the season,” Weis said. “We get to take a long look at our players to really see if we are making the strides that we need to be making, both as an individual and as a team.
“I’m also looking at finding the one lineup that we will be going forward with into the playoffs. This is a great way to assess the team as a whole.”
The fact that there won’t be an easy match on the schedule this weekend is a positive, Weis said, as his team will have to maintain its focus against top-level competition.
“We are looking to see if we can play at a high level for an extended period of time,” he said. “We want to have to face some adversity along the way. I’d like to see how the girls will handle it and what they will do when they are faced with it.
“So we are hoping to take a huge step forward in our development as a team.”
