Despite Hustle, Lady Mavs Lose to Harlem

VIRGIL VAUPEL

COURIER CORRESPONDENT

I was late getting to Saco for the volleyball match Sept. 1 so when I finally got there the games had begun. Here's what I saw:

There were six young ladies on the Maverick side of the net and they were obviously well coached because almost every time their opponent served the ball the Lady Mavs would return it with a beautiful display of the ol' "Bump, Set and Spike" trick. They were really good at digging the ball up and passing to a teammate, they hit some pretty good kill shots and they controlled the ball like seasoned professionals.

Yeah, yeah, I hear ya' saying "Isn't that what they're supposed to do? What's the big deal?" Well friends, the big deal is that they were junior high kids - seventh- and eighth-graders. At that age they aren't supposed to be that good.

Head coach Charlene Wasson along with assistant coaches Amber Erickson and Ali Batdorf have done a great job with these girls getting them started on the path to hanging up a lot of hardware in the trophy cases of all three schools.

I do blather on at times but this topic is worth blathering about.

JV

The first JV game was a sleeper with Harlem winning 25 to 15 but the Lady Mavericks showed up for the second game and gave the spectators a great example of how this fast-paced game should be played.

Chaykota Christensen started out with two really great shoe-top digs that resulted in points for the good guys. Then Alysa Conway added a point with an ace.

Later in the game, Halle Beil, serving the "old fashioned way", underhanded, tallied an ace and another and another and yet another. Yikes. As I've said many times before it doesn't matter how you serve it as long as the ball crosses the net to the opponent.

Then later again Sarah Boucher made a spectacular dig and pass to Conway who one-handed it over for a point, stopping Harlem's 4-0 run.

Plays like those were prevalent and all of a sudden the score was tied at 25 all. Then tied at 26, 27 and 28. Emilie Carillo scored a couple aces as did Boucher but in the end it was Harlem 30, The Norco Lady Mavericks 28.

The Lady Cats of Harlem took the final game 15 to 5.

Varsity

The varsity match soon started with Harlem putting five seniors on the court and the Lady Mavericks just one.

Bailey Funk started out strong digging up a rocket serve from Harlem and banging it up into the rafters where it descended at warp speed to a waiting Jada Sudbrack who hit it to Mickayla Johnson. Johnson didn't waste any time whacking the ball to the far left corner for the point.

Maverick head coach Barry Malone called a short truce when the score became 7 to 1 favoring Harlem.

After the time out Johnson went on a serving rampage and the Mavs drew to within two points of the Lady Cats and that's pretty much how this game went.

Sudbrack had a block followed by a BWA that had the crowd humming Dixie. Then Sarah Boucher had a kill followed by Sudbrack with a very sweet mis-direction doink.

Kayleigh Cummings dug one up and up into the ceiling that Casity Boucher chased down, showing a great deal of hustle. She shoveled it to Johnson who scored with a thundering KWA.

Even after all this great play the Lady Mavericks lost 25 to 20.

The Lady Mavs had too many uffies (unforced errors) in the second game and Harlem whupped-up on them 25 to 15 in spite of some nice assists from Cummings to Johnson and Sudbrack along with a few awesome digs by C. Boucher and Funk.

The third game was a disaster with the Norco ladies losing 25 to 12. Harlem served up three straight aces to end the match.

The junior high girls are something to watch for the future of North Country Maverick volleyball. With some hard work and good coaching, the JV will improve.

The varsity played well. They served well, hustled all over the court, showed some good knowledge of the game and although they were getting hammered in the third game they didn't give up and the camaraderie was still evident on and off the court.

Good work one and all.

Oh and by-the-by welcome to Claire Fjeld who joined the referee corps recently. Fjeld was a freshman standout player on the 2008 second-place at state team with the Hinsdale Lady Raiders.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.