Onalaska made Friday a little more exciting than their coach wanted, but came away with a five-set victory over Kennard. The Lady Cats took a 25-20, 25-14, 23-25, 16-25 and 15-13 win.
Onalaska established a lead early and would hold on to it throughout, taking the first set by five. The second set was filled with lead changes early, but the Lady Cats began to separate themselves after a tie at eight. A 10-2 run would be enough distance to put the home team up two sets.
A hard fought third set was tight until the end, when Kennard began to pull away at 24-18. However, Onalaska looked to rally, bringing the score all the way back to 24-23. After a Lady Tiger time out, they would get the point needed to extend the night.
“We had some mental lapses, and that is our main thing,” Onalaska coach Megan Nichols said. “I tell them all the time that volleyball IQ wise, we are so young. Most of them haven’t played on varsity before. Any game that we go five and win, it shows that they are getting there and that they didn’t give up. We are really happy about that at least.”
The team seemed a bit lost in the fourth set, and did not have an answer for Kennard’s big hitters.
“I write that down often — great moments,” Nichols said of the inconsistency. “What we have been saying and working on is next-play mentality. I told them multiple times this game that serve-receive is not a skill issue, it is just mental. I am just glad that they locked in and pulled it off.
“When I coached at Chester, (Kennard) always got second in our district. Then, they were in our district last year at Neches, so we have seen them a lot. They are very scrappy and their outside hitter had some big swings.”
It looked like more of the same when the Lady Tigers took a 6-1 advantage, and remained in front at 10-5. They later led 12-8, needing just a few bounces to go their way. Yet, that is the point Onalaska locked in and scored seven of the next eight points, ending the game with smiles and celebration.
“Taylor Hudson and Kelli Arce are both sophomores. Kelli plays on the outside and she was on hitting today. Taylor was huge at the net playing in the middle. She had multiple big blocks that we needed from her.
“Lindsey Wurm is our only senior and libero. She will have games when we are playing bigger schools, where they are swinging at us and she will have 30-plus digs, because she is working so hard on defense.”
Onalaska played up in classification the past couple of games versus Huntington and Livingston. They were swept by Livingston, but played them tight in a few sets at 25-18 and 25-17. The coach said she was pleased with her team’s performance over the week.
“We’re happy to see teams that are hitting at us, because district is one game away now. I feel like we are further ahead. I won’t say that we have peaked yet, because that is not what we want. We are ready for what is coming in district, for sure. It is so funny, because I tell them all the time, serve-receive and passing is the hardest skill in volleyball. We have improved so much on it. Now, we have to produce in hitting, which is a much easier skill, I think. It is still learning all of that basic information.”
The Lady Cats will travel to Goodrich before starting district Friday at Crockett. Their next home game is the following Tuesday versus Trinity.
