Lady Trojans knock off Pierce

HARTINGTON — A scrappy volleyball team with a lot to prove following a disappointing 2021 campaign is making plenty of statements this fall.

And that is A-OK by the girls of Cedar Catholic.

Standing at 14-6, the Lady Trojans continue to move up the ladder amongst the best D1 teams around and announced their legitimacy with an impressive four-set win over Pierce (one of the five best teams in C1) and an easy sweep of O’Neill and Wayne in back-to-back matches last Thursday.

Against, Pierce, Cedar dropped a decisive first set before battling back and winning three narrow sets to claim victory.

“I thought we really came together and just wanted that win so bad, that it showed on the floor,” Cedar head coach Denae Buss said. “After the first set, we talked about how we just needed one extra effort on the end of each play and the girls did it. We started going after more balls and just playing more aggressively. Also, hitters were being smart with placement of hits and finding open spots.

We also had a good serving night with only two missed serves that allowed ourselves to get runs and keep ourselves in the game.”

Wayne State commit Laney Kathol had a 24kill explosion and got help from all points of the net. Meredith McGregor added 35 assists.

“It was a game of long rallies and back and forth play with everyone doing their part,” Buss said.

Buss was overall pleased with the sweeps despite some “rollercoaster” performances at times.

“We had a slower start but really finished on a high note with everyone jelling together,” Buss said of O’Neill before reiterating a similar review of the Wayne win.

Junior libero Katy Jones said the Lady Trojans have come back this year a little saltier and determined to turnover the narrative from a year ago.

“Everyday we go into practice, and we want to get better. We don’t get down on ourselves and keep the energy up,” Jones said. “We kept that up in the Pierce game and it really helped. It was a rollercoaster game. We tried to spread out our errors and tried not to stack them up on top of each other. It seemed to help. We would celebrate the little things.”

Jones said the focus on not compounding errors has been a big change while also the team’s ability to win the closer sets (four points or less) which wasn’t the norm last year.

“We have improved there a lot,” Jones said. “We are more disciplined with everything we do. Last year, our passing was everywhere and this year we are making them to the setter. That’s a big step in volleyball.

“It starts in practice. We are conditioning more this year, so we have more energy in our tanks. Also, the bench helps us out and calms us down. It is really a team game when it comes down to it. Laney wouldn’t get those kills if it weren’t for the pass.”

Cedar Catholic opened this week Tuesday against Battle Creek and will play Guardian Angels CC Thursday.

“They are a strong team in our conference that really hustles and plays aggressively,” Buss said. “Our key will be to want it, work hard, and stay focused.”

The team managed to get through SubDistricts and Districts last year despite its season-long struggles to advance to State.

Buss knows the schedule still has plenty of tough tasks ahead in their quest to return to the final weekend of the high school volleyball season.

“We do have a tough subdistrict and we really feel after our recent success that we are steadily improving and making strides towards the team we want to be when that time comes,” Buss said. “Still, there is lots of work to do, but just keep improving every day, every game to get ready.”

Cedar 19 25 25 25 Pierce 25 21 22 22 KILLS Cedar - Laney Kathol, 24; Melayna Mc-Gregor, 6; Jozie Becker, 4; Lexie Eickhoff, 3; Lauren Bernecker, 2; Meredith McGregor, 1. DIGS Cedar - Katy Jones, 11; Annika Kuehn, 7; Laney Kathol, 6; Faith Christensen, 4; Lauren Bernecker, 4; Meredith McGregor, 3; Melanya Mc-Gregor, 3; Grace Wortmann, 2; Lexi Eickhoff, 1. BLOCKS Cedar - Lexi Eickhoff, 6; Lauren Bernecker, 5; Laney Kathol, 4; Jozie Becker, 4; Meredith McGregor, 2; Malayna McGregor, 1. ACE SERVES Cedar - Annika Kuehn, 4; Katy Jones, 2; Grace Wortmann, 2; Laney Kathol, 2; Lauren Bernecker, 1. SET ASSISTS Cedar - Meredith McGregor, 35; Annika Kuehn, 1. Cedar 25 25 Wayne 16 19 KILLS Cedar - Laney Kathol, 7; Melayna McGregor, 3; Lexi Eickhoff, 3; Lauren Bernecker, 2; Jozie Becker, 1; Meredith McGregor, 1. DIGS Cedar - Katy Jones, 7; Meredith McGregor, 4; Laney Kathol, 3; Faith Christensen, 3; Annika Kuehn, 2; Lauren Bernecker, 1. BLOCKS Cedar - Lauren Bernecker, 3; Laney Kathol, 2; Lexi Eickhoff, 2; Jozie Becker, 1; Melayna McGregor, 1. ACE SERVES Cedar - Laney Kathol, 1; Grace Wortmann, 1; Lauren Bernecker, 1. SET ASSISTS Cedar - Meredith McGregor, 15; Lyndsey Hamilton, 1. Cedar 25 25 O’Neill 16 16 KILLS Cedar - Laney Kathol, 7; Melayna Mc-Gregor, 3; Lexi Eickhoff, 2; Lauren Bernecker, 2; Meredith McGregor, 1. DIGS Cedar - Katy Jones, 8; Laney Kathol, 6; Annika Kuehn, 5; Malayna McGregor, 3; Grace Wortmann, 1; Faith Christensen,1; Jozi Becker, 1; Meredith McGregor, 1. BLOCKS Cedar - Lexi Eickhoff, 2; Laney Kathol, 1; Malayna McGregor, 1. ACE SERVES Cedar - Grace Wortmann, 2; Laney Kathol, 1. SET ASSISTS Cedar - Meredith McGregor, 12; Lyndsey Hamilton, 1.