First-year Britton-Hecla volleyball coach Jenna Peters couldn’t have scripted a better start to her inaugural season.
The Lady Braves won a battle royal over Leola-Frederick in their season opener last week Tuesday 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-13 and then downed Tiospa Zina in their home opener on Thursday 2516, 21-15, 25-15, 25-19. To top that off, the junior varsity and ‘C’ squad also each posted a pair of wins to give the program an overall 6-0 mark in its opening week.
Peters’ crew was back in action last night Tuesday, hosting Tri-State. Thursday the local netters travel to Webster Area.
“All three of the teams are 2-0, so that’s exciting,” said Peters. “We really have some good leaders on the team and have some girls that have stepped up to fill spots that needed to be filled.”
Peters has been most pleased with her team’s passing and serving in the early going.
“Our passing has improved quite a bit since summer and I’ve been very impressed with the girls’ serving. That was something we really talked about this summer and in fall camp, about not giving the other team points and forcing them to earn them, and it’s really shown up so far with very few serving errors.”
The first-year coach is looking for her players to develop more confidence in their hitting this week.
“I’d like to really see us get in a rhythm with our hits and get some confidence in our hitting,” Peters noted. “I’d also like to see some good blocks. We haven’t been great at that so far.”
B-H 25-23-25-15-15 L-F 23-25-23-25-13
The two squads set the tone for this match early with the first three matches being decided by just two points and then the Lady Braves won the match with a two-point margin in the final set.
B-H hit 96-102 serves with 10 aces, led by Tiyanna Schott’s 20-20 and four aces, Kaegan Fredrickson with 1820 and a pair of aces, and Heather Storbakken’s 26-28 with an ace. Schott also had a big night at the net with 19 of the team’s 46 kills.
SERVING: BH, 96-102, 10 aces (Tiyanna Schott 20-20, 4 aces; Kaegan Fredrickson 18-20, 2 aces; Heather Storbakken 26-28, 1 ace)
HITTING: BH, 116-150, 46 kills (Schott 33-43, 19 kills; Fredrickson 2331, 8 kills; Emma Kraft 19-22, 8 kills; Sterling Brassfield 12-17, 5 kills)
SETTING: BH, 144-145, 35 assists (Storbakken 69-69, 18 assists; Jayden Bender 46-47, 11 assists)
BLOCKING: BH, 16 assists (Mallory Grupe 6 assists, Kraft 4 assists, Schott 4 assists)
DIGS: BH, 69 (Annika Tank 21, Storbakken 13, Fredrickson 12, Bender 9)
B-H 25-21-25-25 TZ 16-25-15-19
Britton-Hecla jumped out to a 16-6 lead to take charge of the opening set before weathering a Tiospa Zina rally, dropped set two, but came back to win the next two sets in convincing fashion.
Heather Storbakken, who was 29-30 at the service line with nine aces, served seven of the Lady Braves points on the way to their 16-6 lead in the opening set. TZ rallied with a 9-2 run to cut the margin to 18-15 but could never get any closer. Addison Wade served back-to-back aces and Kaegan Fredrickson, who led B-H with 11 kills on the night, put one down for the final point.
B-H led 13-7 in set two but the visitors went on a 9-0 run on the way to evening the match. Then, after TZ jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in set three, Storbakken and Fredrickson teamed up to get Peters’ crew on track. Storbakken had a kill and a pair of aces and Fredrickson back-to-back kills for an 8-3 lead and TZ never threatened.
The final set was a battle in the early going with B-H holding a narrow 17-15 lead. But Schott went to work from the service line, capping a three-point run with an ace. Fredrickson and Emma Kraft added kills for a 23-16 lead on the way to the match win.
SERVING: BH, 90-93, 16 aces (Heather Storbakken 29-30, 9 aces; Kaegan Fredrickson 16-16, 2 aces; Tiyanna Schott 121-13, 2 aces; Addison Wade 13-13, 2 aces; Jayden Bender 1213, 1 ace)
HITTING: BH, 138-183, 35 kills (Fredrickson 34-45, 11 kills; Schott 2837, 6 kills; Emma Kraft 18-24, 6 kills; Storbakken 18-18, 6 kills)
SETTING: BH, 155-156, 29 assists (Storbakken 76-76, 17 assists; Bender 48-48, 9 assists)
BLOCKING: BH, 1 block, 4 assists (Schott 1 block, 2 assists)
DIGS: BH, 73 (Storbakken 14, Annika Tank 13, Fredrickson 12, Wade 8)
