North Country Lady Mavericks Compete in Malta Invitational Opener

As Maverick head coach Barry Malone told me at the tournament after the first game against Tri-Cities, "We made a lot of unforced errors, but all-in-all I thought we played pretty good for our first time on the court." I saw improvement in their serving over last year, especially Jada Sudbrack who has a cannon serve that has a tendency to drop to the floor just after crossing the net.

Coach Malone started his four returning starters from last year, Sudbrack, Mickayla Johnson, Kayleigh Cummings and Casity Boucher along with Bailey Funk and Sarah Boucher. Others getting the call were Elise Strommen, Halle Beil and Chaykota Christensen. Mia Rimoldi, Alysa Conway and Emilie Carillo didn't have enough practices to be eligible to play. Payton Chopper is the team manager.

Chelsea Quinones and Michelle Spicher are the assistant coaches.

The Mavs went 1-3 in pool play beating Harlem for their only win. An oddity occurred in the very first game of pool play when the North Country Mavericks played the Tri-City Lady Titans. The Titans are composed of three schools: Hobson, Moore and Judith Gap. The Mavericks are made up from three schools: Whitewater, Saco and Hinsdale. Of the six schools represented there were just three senior girls - two from the Titans and one from the Mavs. Yikes. Dwindling numbers indeed.

In the first game for the Lady Mavericks, Johnson had the first service of the season. Funk scored the first point with a smash to the far right corner. Sudbrack scored the first ace of the season and Johnson had the very first BWA (Block With Attitude). Later, Sudbrack had a BWA that kept Funk's string of serves intact. She had 12 in a row which included four or five aces. They finished off Harlem 25 to 10.

In their second game of the tournament they came up against Winnett-Grass Range and lost in two; 25 - 12 and 25 - 19. Coach Malone said the last game was their best and showed the girls they could play the game when they got it all together.

Sudbrack had two super digs in a row to keep a point alive and Casity Boucher made a perfect assist to Johnson for yet another KWA. Sarah Boucher tallied a couple or more kills her-own-self. Cummings had the dig of the tournament scraping one from shoe string level, passing to Casity who made another perfect set to Sudbrack. Wham! Another kill.

It was a long day but I think the Lady Mavericks came away feeling good about themselves and their game. They did have their moments.

C'mon folks. Volleyball today isn't your grannies volleyball. It's a great game and filled with action and awesomely unbelievable plays. Isn't it time you turned off the TV and came out to watch?

Thanks for listening.