By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn High School girls volleyball team finished third in the Badger Invite Sept. 27 at Badger High School, and likely learned that playing volleyball all day is not as easy as it sounds.
“Overall, I am very happy with results of the day and how everyone played,” Elks coach Heidi McGraw said. “We were able to cover our hitters and pass up some hits that were blocked.
“To start the season, this was one area that we were lacking and it is progressing very well. The girls really showed their true grit during that last match against Jefferson.”
The Elks finished third after losing to Jefferson in the semifinals. The match against the Eagles was the Elks’ sixth of the day.
“The last set we were up 11-8, but just ran out of gas and lost 15-13,” McGraw said. “We made some critical unforced errors and couldn’t seem to get a stop when we needed it.”
Elkhorn took the Eagles to three sets. The Elks lost the first set 22-15, won the second set 25-23 and lost the third set 15-13.
Elkhorn opened play in the tournament against Williams Bay and won 25-21, 25-15.
“Williams Bay is a solid, young team, and gave us some trouble in the first set,” McGraw said. “We had a lot of unforced errors but were able to overcome them to win the match.”
After defeating the Bulldogs the Elks beat Big Foot in three sets. Elkhorn won the first set 25-22, lost the second set 25-19 and won the third set 25-19.
“Big Foot has some players that can really attack the ball, but our defense was really on for the first and third sets,” McGraw said. “That led to our offense being able to generate some kills to help us score.”
Elkhorn followed its intense match against Big Foot with a match against host Badger.
“We came out a little flat and not very focused to lose the first set 25-11,” McGraw said. “We really couldn’t find a rhythm that set in all aspects of the game. We had a lot of service errors, hitting errors and passing errors.
“Again the team came together after that loss and bounced back with a victory in the last 2 sets – 25-19 and 15-11. Both these victories were a total team effort once again.”
The Elks then waited through a bye and the lunch break before beating Clinton in two sets – 25-23, 25-13.
After defeating Clinton, Elkhorn lost to Madison West in two sets – 25-23, 25-18.
Natalie Dulaney finished with 113 assists for Elkhorn, and Maggie McGraw finished with 102 digs, 75 kills and nine aces. Rebecca Rondou recorded 12 blocks.
Elkhorn played Waterford Tuesday in a SLC match at home. The Elks play Saturday in the Waukesha North Invitational at Waukesha North High School.
