By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Elkhorn defeated Grafton in three sets Sept. 20 and finished fifth in the Slinger Invitational at Slinger High School.
Elkhorn won the first set 25-22 and lost the second set 25-15. The Elks won the third set 15-11.
“Even in the match we won, we did not play consistent volleyball, as seen by the score difference in the first 2 sets,” Elks coach Heidi McGraw said. “We have a lot more talent then was shown (Saturday).”
McGraw said the Elks struggled with serving and receiving all day long.
“That made it extremely difficult to get any type of consistent offense started,” McGraw said. “We just gave the other teams too many free balls, and they aggressively sent them back at us.”
McGraw said the Elks lacked a consistent defense, another factor that limited Elkhorn’s offense and ability to stop the opponent from scoring runs.
“We also had numerous, unforced errors throughout the day, and when you play equally-skilled teams, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes wins,” McGraw said. “There wasn’t a team at this invite that we couldn’t have beaten, if we would have played our type of volleyball.”
The Elks lost to Slinger 25-10, 25-18 and lost to New Berlin Eisenhower 25-15, 25-19. Kewaskum beat Elkhorn 25-18, 25-19 and Oshkosh North won 25-16, 25-17.
Maggie McGraw led Elkhorn with 39 kills. Natalie Dulaney led the Elks with 45 assists.
On Sept. 16 Burlington defeated Elkhorn 25-13, 25-15, 25-12 in a Southern Lakes Conference meet at Elkhorn.
