Lady Scotties Lose Two On Road Before Bringing Home Win

The Lady Scotties had a busy week this past week after having an unexpected lull in game play the week before as the Wolf Point Wolves rescheduled their match-up, which was originally scheduled for Sept. 3, due to COVID-19. The Lady Scotties traveled to Saco to play the North Country Mavericks on Sept. 8 and then traveled to Glendive on Sept. 10. The Lady Scotties ended their week of play hosting Sidney on Sept. 12 in their first home opener of the season.

In their match-up against the Mavericks, the Lady Scotties came in hot, winning the first two games, 25-22 and 25-21, setting them up to clinch the win. The Mavericks on the other hand didn't want to let the game go so easily and won the third game, 26-24. The Mavericks would go on to win the fourth and fifth games of the match, 25-14, 15-13 to secure the win.

Coach Somer Hoerster attributed the loss to errors that occurred on the Scotties' side of the net. Between overpasses, missed serves as well as hitting errors, the Scotties recorded over 60 errors throughout the five games of play, when an acceptable number of errors is no more than 10 to 15. Unfortunately, the errors started early, as the first six of the Mavericks' eight points in the first game were due to Scottie errors. Though the Scotties were able to make a comeback and clinch the win in the first game, the errors continued to provide preventable points to the Mavericks. Hoerster stated there were times the Lady Scotties weren't able to run their own offense due to either the Mavericks proceeding to hit the ball right back or successfully obtaining a kill off a Scottie overpass, providing point opportunities for the Mavericks. She admits though some players were working hard, others were struggling to put everything together. In the fifth game, the Scotties had started to put everything together and were leading the Mavericks when senior Riley Noser sustained a rolled ankle, creating a shift in energy. As Noser is known to be a great asset as a threat for the Scotties, when she went down the Scotties scrambled for their last few points.

The Lady Scotties had a few days to regroup, practice and due to Noser's injury the starting line-up had to be adjusted for the match-up against Glendive on Sept. 10. The last time the two teams played each other was during the Dickinson Tournament last year. One advantage Glendive has had over the Scotties is their height, allowing them to dominate on blocking, jumping as well as seeing the court well providing the opportunity to pick up the defensive. Glendive would utilize their advantage and take home the win 25-20, 25-16, 26-24.

Coach Hoerster attributed the loss to the aggressiveness of Glendive, as some players utilized their whole bodies to get behind the ball, resulting in the Scottie defense not always knowing what to expect and were not able to create the blocks. Glendive also had effective kids on the outside as well as a libero who passed well creating their advantage. Hoerster admits the Scotties did have moments in the game where they would fight through the points, win the rally and then end missing on the serving line, which created many shifts in momentum for the team.

In their last match-up of the week, the Scotties hosted Sidney and took home the win in three, 25-15, 25-23, 25-9, improving to two and three on the season. The Scotties achieved 30 kills, six blocks, eight aces, 21 digs and 22 assists compared to Sidney's 11 kills, four blocks, five aces, 22 digs and 22 assists. This was Noser's first game back since sustaining the injury on Tuesday and led the team with two blocks. Other Scottie leaders included Rachelle Glaser for her 21 assists, Blaire Westby for her six digs and Abrianna Nielsen for her six kills and three aces.

Hoerster admits a lot of time is being spent at practice working on serving and passing as those items are contributing to the struggle to secure wins.

The Scotties are hoping to add conference wins to their schedule when they travel to Poplar on Thursday, Sept. 17 in their first conference match-up of the season and then will host Harlem on Saturday, Sept. 19, with C squad action starting at 1 p.m.