Volleyball team wraps regular season 10-0 in RVC
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Another year, another wire-to-wire Rock Valley Conference title for the East Troy High School girls volleyball team.
The Trojans closed the regular season Saturday with a perfect 3-0 record at the RVC Tournament. East Troy, which was 10-0 in conference play during the season, won its fourth straight tournament title.
East Troy, 26-9 overall and ranked second in the latest Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Division 2 poll, opened regional play Tuesday night against visiting Clinton.
Results were unavailable by press time.
East Troy earned wins Saturday over Jefferson (25-15, 26-24), McFarland (25-17, 22-25, 15-9) and Big Foot (25-8, 25-13).
“It (feels) great to know that all of the girls’ hard work is paying off for them,” East Troy coach Jeremy Weis said. “They have worked extremely hard this season, so to have them win it again this year is a great feeling for them.”
Weis said there were several stellar efforts put together throughout Saturday’s tournament.
He also used the day to mix and match with the lineup a bit with the upcoming post-season in mind.
“I thought that we played pretty well overall, but there were a few girls that played really well,” Weis said. “I put a couple girls in situations that they haven’t played in much, if at all during the season. They stepped up and did a great job for the team.”
Leading the way against Jefferson were Katrina Santos with six kills; M.E. Dodge with five kills; Natalie Bearce with four kills; Mati Jakscht and Carly Atchison with eight digs; and Chloe Jakscht with 20 digs.
Weis said he gave Dodge, who entered Tuesday’s regional with 1,999 career kills, a little extra time off in the opener.
“We were trying a few different things in that match,” he said. “I wanted to rest M.E. a bit. … We let her play back row, wanted to save her swing and wanted a few of the other girls to be able to carry a bit more of the load.
“(I) just wanted them to toughen up a bit as the playoffs were coming this week.”
Trojans drop a set
The match against McFarland in the semifinals featured something new – a loss in a conference set for the Trojans.
McFarland’s 25-22 win in the second set was the first loss against a conference opponent this season.
Weis credited the Spartans for their solid effort.
“They put up a strong block against us in that match,” he said. “They keyed on M.E. and that put us in a bit of a (tough) situation at times.”
After an adjustment between sets, the Trojans finished the match with the 15-9 win in the third.
“We just moved the ball around a bit more, and we also cut down on a few of the errors that we were making during the second set,” Weis said.
Dodge led the way with 19 kills and 14 digs, followed by Bearce with five blocks; Tori Miller with three blocks; Chloe Jakscht with 12 digs and 26 assists; and Atchison with 15 digs.
In the finals, East Troy rolled past South Division champion Big Foot in straight sets.
Leader included Dodge with 11 kills; Miller with seven kills; Brianna Scuric with six kills; and Chloe Jakscht with 25 assists.
“I thought that we served the ball extremely well and hit all of our service zones,” Weis said. “We also passed the ball well, and that allowed us to run a very balanced offense.”
Weis was pleased with the play of both Miller and Mati Jakscht throughout Saturday.
“Tori Miller played very well offensively during (the McFarland) match and during the whole tournament,” he said. “She was a huge swing for us late in that match.
“Mati Jakscht also went in on the outside and did a great job of making shots when facing the huge block.”
