The AGWSR volleyball team produced some clutch scoring runs and handled a majority of the pressure late in sets, to win their first match of the season 3-1 at East Marshall in NICL-West action Tuesday. The Cougars won by set scores of 25-16, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-23.
In the first set, AGWSR jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never led by less than five for the remainder of the set to go 1-0 in the match. The second set featured 11 different ties. Late in the set there was a 20-20 tie. The Cougars went on a 5-3 scoring run to take the set and go up 2-0. In the third set, East Marshall led by as many as seven at 20-13. The Cougars from that point went on a 8-1 run to tie the set at 21. The Mustangs scored three of the final five points to force a fourth set. In the fourth set, the Mustangs led the first half of the set before the Cougars tied it at 12. Each team traded points to a 17-17 tie. The Cougars went on a 4-0 run to go up 21-17. The Mustangs tied it again at 22. The Cougars scored three of the final four points to clinch their first win. Senior Middle Hitter Brylea Metzgar on what helped the team put together the win.
“We’ve done a lot of team bonding on how we can contribute to the team. Each and every single one of us, work as a team and not just individuals and we really showed that today,” says Metzgar. “It was awesome. The student section came, it was a big crowd, it was awesome.”
Head Coach Kayla Miller shares what she reminded the team during competitive sets.
“It felt pretty awesome. The girls really played hard. They wanted this so bad. I couldn’t be more proud. They covered very well. The energy from just having a week off was completely different. They needed this tonight for sure,” says Miller. “We just reminded them to take a deep breath. You are still in this. Play aggressive, play hard, don’t let the ball drop and make sure we’re covering our hitters. They had some good blocks on us but making sure we were moving our feet no matter what was a big thing. It helped a lot tonight.”
Metzgar led the team with 16 kills. Elise Olson and Hadley Bright each had 12 kills. Claire Culver added 45 assists for the Cougars.
It was the Cougars eight straight win over the Mustangs.
AGWSR (1-12, 1-1 NICL-West) will return to the court at the Gladbrook-Reinbeck tournament on Saturday.
