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COLUMBUS - After defeating Lutheran High Northeast in a three set sweep back on Sept. 2 to improve to 3-0 on the young season, the Cedar Catholic Lady Trojan volleyball team ran into a bit of a buzzsaw in the Scotus Central Catholic Invitational on Sept. 6 Pierce, Bishop Neumann and Scotus all three swept the Lady Trojans in Columbus with only the Pierce stats available at press-time.
Pierce defeated Cedar 25-19 and 25-21 in the best-of-three sets format.
“I thought we played very well,” said Cedar Catholic coach Denae Buss. We are steadily improving and we can see the changes the players are making. We came out in set two and I think we were up 7-1 before they steadily chipped away.
“We really dug the ball pretty well. They have some exceptional hitters, but we sat behind their hits and really did a good job there. Also, we played very smart. Using our intelligence to score some points on some scrappy plays.”
Anisten Wortmann and Brynn Bernecker paced the Cedar Catholic attack with six and five kills respectively.
Autumn Kathol tipped up eight assists in the match while Kally Becker had seven.
Wortmann successfully returned 11 serves while Reese Albers had 10 and Savannah Pick added nine.
Bernecker also added eight digs to her match.
This is what Buss had to say about the other two matches in the tournament: “We came out and hung around with them. We just made too many errors. Our first set was pretty tight.
Then we had some learning to do as we do with any good team. The momentum shifted and we talked about how we are going to turn it around after it goes the other way.”
BISHOP NEUMANN
“I think we did a good job of rebounding after the Scotus game, coming in with a good attitude. We just continued to make some errors on big points but we had a much better approach to it. Trying to talk through it, so I was proud of the players for that. Afterwards we really talked about the process. We can see the changes we are trying to make, so in the end , we can see how good we can be, putting in the mindful work right now. It’s a tough tournament, but we learned a lot and are ready to keep moving forward.”
On Sept. 2, the Lady Trojans traveled to Norfolk to take on Lutheran High Northeast and came away with a 25-20, 26-24, 25-19 sweep over the Lady Eagles in a best-of-five-sets match.
“I thought we showed a lot of grit to come back in set two. We played very aggressively which is why we were able to take that set.” the coach said. “Overall we played with a lot of effort. The hustle plays really carried over into our momentum and likewise LHNE had some good hustle plays which makes for a really fun game going back and forth like that. We were pretty effective from the service line, setting ourselves up for easier plays. Now we just need to put those into longer runs.”
Addison Walter, Bernecker, Pick and Wortmann were a threat at the net during the match slamming six, five, five and four winners respectively.
The Lady Trojans also had a great night at the service line as Buss alluded to.
Bernecker and Pick each had three aces while Walter and Wortmann each had two.
Kathol had 11 set assists while Becker tacked on eight.
Ava Stewart was a menace at the net with four blocks in the match, Calley Stewart had three.
Wortmann recorded 13 digs, Bernecker and Albers had seven apiece.
Pick and Wortmann had a great night passing the ball with Pick making 17 good passes and Wortmann 15.
Cedar Catholic was set to take a 3-3 record into a Mid State Conference match Sept. 9 at Crofton before taking the court in the Wakefield Invitational Sept. 11 and Sept. 13.
The Lady Trojans will make a trip to presently unbeaten Norfolk Catholic on Sept. 16 for a triangular with the Lady Knights and Elgin Public/Pope John.
Pierce 25 25 Cedar Catholic 19 21 ks==KSielltsA, as=siAstcse, rS=eSrevervse, bR=eBcleoicvkes., d=Digs, CEDAR: Kally Becker 1a, 1d, 7s, Reese Albers 2d, 2s, 10r; Brynn Bernecker 5k, 3a, 4b, 8d, 6r; Anisten Wortmann 6k, 4d, 11r; Savannah Pick 1k, 1b, 6d, 9r; Ava Stewart 2k, 3b, 2d; Calley Stewart 1k, 1b, 1d, 1r; Autumn Kathol 4d, 8s; Addison Walter 2k, 1d, 3r.
Cedar Catholic Lutheran High NE 25-20, 26-24, 25-29.
CEDAR CATHOLIC: Jocelyn Bottolfsen 1d; 1r; Kally Becker 3d, 8s; Reese Albers 7d, 1s, 8r; Brynn Bernecker 5k, 3a, 2b, 7d, 9r; Anisten Wortmann 4k, 2a, 2b, 13d, 1s, 15r; Savannah Pick 5k, 3a, 5d, 1s, 17r; Ava Stewart 2k, 4b, 1s; Calley Stewart 3k, 3b, 1d, 1s, 3r; Autumn Kathol 1k, 5d, 11s; Addison Walter6k, 2a, 1b, 2d, 1r.
