By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A rare Rock Valley Conference setback earlier in the week led East Troy girls volleyball coach Jeremy Weis to issue a challenge to his team heading into the weekend.
Message received.
East Troy responded with a solid 3-3 overall record at the Brookfield Central Invitational.
“I was very pleased with our efforts on Saturday,” Weis said. “We were playing some quality teams and held our own in the tournament.
“I challenged the girls after our loss, and the girls responded. I felt our defense was better, and we were able to move the ball around more offensively.”
The Trojans posted wins over Greendale (25-20, 23-25, 15-11), Greenfield (25-15, 25-18) and Mukwonago (14-25, 27-25, 16-14).
Leaders against Greendale included Brianna Scuric (12 kills, 9 digs), Katie Zewiske (6 kills), Tori Miller (3 blocks, 6 kills), Natalee Bearce (3 aces), Mati Jakscht (10 digs), Taylor Schmitt (13 digs) and Isabelle Martino (22 assists, 7 digs).
In the win over Greenfield, East Troy leaders were Scuric (12 digs, 11 kills), Julian Friedrichs (3 blocks), Jakscht (19 digs) and Martino (21 assists, 12 digs).
Leading the way against Mukwonago were Scuric (11 digs, 7 kills), Miller (5 kills), Martino (20 assists, 7 digs), Jakscht (7 digs) and Zewiske (7 digs).
“In our wins, we were able to limit errors,” Weis said. “In the huge win against Mukwonago, we played great defense and limited our errors down the stretch.
“That is something that we have worked on all year and will continue to work on as the season goes on.”
East Troy fell to Menomonee Falls (16-25, 22-25), West Bend West (17-25, 27-25, 11-15) and Westosha Central (20-25, 18-25).
“The difference in our losses were that we had a hard time finishing teams off,” Weis said. “We had leads late in the match against all three of the teams. We have to continue to work in practice so that we can overcome those obstacles late in matches.”
Leaders against Menomonee falls were Scuric (7 kills), Zewiske (5 kills), Jakscht (10 digs) and Martino (15 assists), while leading the way against West Bend were Scuric (11 digs, 11 kills), Friedrichs (3 blocks), Jakscht (19 digs) and Martino (21 assists, 12 digs).
In the finale against Central, leaders included Scuric (4 kills), Zewiske (4 kills), Jakscht (13 digs) and Martino (11 assists).
East Troy was back in action Tuesday night at Whitewater. The Trojans host Jefferson Thursday night.
“The keys to the week are simple,” Weis said. “We need to work on controlling the things that we can control. We need to give our best effort and to cut down on making errors. Consistency is something that we will be working on all year.”
Trojans fall to Spartans
A conference win streak that dated back about six years ended last week with a 23-25, 18-25, 26-24, 19-25 loss at McFarland.
The reason for the loss was a simple one, Weis said.
“McFarland totally outplayed us in every aspect of the game,” Weis said. “They put up a huge block against us, and I think that kind of got in the girls’ heads. It made it very difficult for us to score offensively after that.”
Weis was pleased that his team didn’t quit in the third-set win.
“The girls were not going to lay down,” he said. “They are a group of girls who will fight to the end. They love this game, each other and are willing to play hard until the end.”
Leaders included Scuric (19 digs, 23 kills, 3 blocks), Zewiske (12 digs, 6 kills), Bearce (4 blocks), Friedrichs (4 blocks), Miller (4 blocks), Jakscht (25 digs) and Martino (34 assists, 18 digs).
