By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The Big Foot volleyball train just keeps rolling right along.
Big Foot continued its perfect season Saturday with a clean sweep of the competition at the Edgerton Tournament. The Chiefs didn’t drop a set en route to a perfect 7-0 record.
The Chiefs, ranked fourth in Division 2, took a 22-0 overall mark and a 3-0 Rock Valley Conference record into a road matchup Tuesday night at Beloit Turner. Results were unavailable by press time.
Big Foot coach Jen Stelling had plenty to be pleased with after Saturday’s first-place finish.
“We’ve never won that tournament, so it was definitely a goal of ours,” she said. “Coming in, we knew we had to be on our game right away. We came out pretty strong (in the first match) and then just continued through the day.
“We struggled a little bit with unforced errors, but overall, our offense looked good. We didn’t lose a set, so that’s a pretty big weekend for us.”
Big Foot posted two-set sweeps over Lakeside Lutheran 25-19, 25-17; Wautoma 25-10, 25-13; Edgerton 25-17, 25-23; Brodhead 25-16, 25-11; Deerfield 25-9, 25-15; Janesville Craig, 25-18, 25-19; and Clinton 25-10, 25-13.
Getting through an entire tournament without dropping a set is a tough thing to accomplish, but a goal the Chiefs try to attain every time they take the floor, Stelling said.
“I don’t like to lose, and I have a bunch of girls who don’t like to lose, either,” she said. “That just comes from a mindset. They work hard.”
Unofficial statistical leaders for Big Foot included Sydney Racky with 59 kills and 10 digs; Amy Schryver with 42 kills and 43 digs; Rachel Heidenreich with 12 kills; Molly Kovarik with seven kills and three blocks; Katarina Rotta with 127 assists, three blocks and seven aces; Kristen Glade with 13 aces; Maggie Kivlin with five aces; and Mackenzie Long with 33 digs.
Racky again had a big day for the Chiefs, Stelling said.
“She’s a big key to our offense,” Stelling said. “Her and (Rotta) work well together. I think we have a little more offense than we did last year.”
The first-place finish came on the heels of two RVC victories the past week.
Big Foot, which is seeking its fourth straight conference title, opened play with a 25-10, 25-10, 25-14 win over Brodhead last Tuesday night, followed by a 25-16, 25-10, 25-16 win over Palmyra-Eagle two nights later.
“Our focus is on making ourselves better,” Stelling said. “We know we should win every match. That’s definitely a goal of ours, to not drop a set again this year (like we did last year).”
Leading the way against Brodhead were Schryver with 17 digs, three aces and 12 kills; Racky with nine kills; Rotta with 29 assists and five kills; Heidenreich with five kills; Glade with six aces; Kivlin with three aces; and Long with 11 digs.
Statistical leaders against Palmyra included Racky with 13 kills and four aces; Schryver with 15 digs and 13 kills’ Rotta with three aces, 30 assists and eight digs; and Long with eight digs.
Following Tuesday’s match, the Chiefs were back in action Thursday against visiting Parkview. Big Foot will travel to Lake Geneva Saturday morning to compete in the Badger Invitational.
The Chiefs won that title last year and have an eye on a repeat in 2012, Stelling said. Big Foot will compete in pool play against Ozaukee, Jefferson and nearby rival Williams Bay.
“We won it for the first time ever last year, so we’d definitely like to defend it,” she said. “We need to be aggressive right off the bat.
“I don’t think we’re playing at our best. We still have a lot of things to work on. We need to peak toward the end, toward October when we see the bigger teams (at tournaments). We need to continue to just get better.”
