Out & About: Armstrong/Rogers

#2 posting 9.25.2006
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

Armstrong 3, Rogers 2

Tonight was a section 5 matchup between the upstart Rogers and Armstrong who last won the section in 2003. Amrstrong had a sloppy start, but eventually hit their stride in the fourth game, limiting their mistakes in holding off a scrappy Rogers team.

In game one Armstrong dug a huge hole to start as Rogers' Jamie Fuhrman served up 8 straight points to open the game. The only earned Rogers point was a block. All other points were the result of Armstrong gifts wrapped up as hitting errors, lifts, and net violations. Armstrong took a time out a 6-0, but the bleeding continued for two more points. By the time Steph Wallin served Armstrong cut the lead to 11-7, but on Wahlin's second serve she was wide. Rogers pushed the lead back to 15-9 on a side out by Erica Sudduth. Then Armstrong, after a side out, added five more points on Krista Pedersen's serve as it was Rogers' turn to make mistakes. The only earned points was a Ana Sather kill for the side out, and an ace on point 14 for Armstrong. When Rogers got the side out they held a 16-15 lead. Rogers extended the lead to 20-17, but Armstrong crept back to 21-20. Armstrong had a hitting error to give the ball back to Rogers to make it 22-20. Rogers scored the last three points on Kendra Black's serve. Jamie Furhman had two kills, including point 25.

In game two it was Rogers that was behind the 8 ball early as Armstrong built a 6-1 lead. Rogers burned one time out at that point. But Rogers did come back to hold get their first lead at 10-9. A series of sideouts kept Rogers in the lead at 12-11. That was their last lead. Rogers had sideded out five straight times at that juncture. Krista Pederson's serve put Armstrong back in the lead. Rogers did tie it at 17 on Amy Neubauer's serve, but a sideout kill by Wallin put the ball in Wallin's hand for the serve. She proceeded to to serve up six points to make it 24-17. Rogers did try to stop the momentum with a timeout at 20-17, but Wallin continued her serve. A side out and a block finished the second game 25-18.

Rogers took game three, but had to rally to do it. The first real lead was held by Armstrong at 8-5 after Wallin's serve. But Armstrong would only side out at .273 for that game. After Wallin's serve Black served up four points, all the result of Armstrong mistakes. Armstrong had one last lead at 14-12 with three straight aces by Ericka Mahlum. Furhman gave the lead right back to Rogers at 16-15 when her serve was done. A key point was #19 when the Rogers defense rose to the occasion with two superb digs to keep the ball alive. Neubauer's kill from the left side made it 19-15. Armstrong took a time out to reorganize. Another Rogers big point came on 22 with a push kill from Marika Paumen to an empty left front. The third game ended on Black's ace.

That was the last straw for Armstrong. They played shutdown side out ball with 13/14 in the crucial fourth game. Armstrong led from start to finish in this game. They had six straight side outs to keep Rogers in check. They closed with seven straight to prevent any rallies. This game belonged to Krista Pedersen with 8 of her 10 kills. The biggest run came with Julie Kocemba's jump serve which resulted in four points. Pederson had 3 of her kills and Kocemba had an ace.

Armstrong continued to play cleaner ball in game five. Rogers led 3-1 early, but the roof caved in on Kristi Larson's serve as she ripped off 8 straight points. Rogers took time outs at 4-3 and 8-3. Before Larson had the serve Wallin crunched a ball out of the middle for a side out. She had five kills in the run breaking the back of Rogers. Wallin had 2 kills out of the middle, 1 kill down the line from the left side and she also used the tip out of both the left and the middle. When Rogers did get the ball back Wallin hit a ball of the block to return it back to Armstrong. Wallin finished the night with three serves including the first an ace. The game ended on Pedersen's kill.

Serve order, Name, Position, Aces, Blocks, Kills---totals
ARMSTRONG
#1 Ericka Mahlum, S 3-.5-1--4.5
#2 Krista Pedersen, OH 2-0-10--12
#3 Kristi Larson, MH 1-0-5--6
#4br Tina Callanan, S 2-0-0---2
#4fr Ana Sather, RH 0-0-5---5
#5 Steph Wallin, OH 3-0-18---21
#6br Julie Kocemba, L 2-0-2---4
#6fr Maura Jackson, MH 0-0-2---2
Laura Dickmeyer, MH 0-.5-2--2.5
Totals 13-1-45--59 points, 45 points on Rogers errors

ROGERS
#1 Jamie Fuhrman, OH 0-4-0---4
#2 Mikayla Boerger, S 2-.5-5--7.5
#3 Erica Sudduth, MH 1-2.5-5---8.5
#4 Amy Neubauer, OH 1-0-3--4
#5br Kendra Black, BR 2-0-0---2
#5fr Samantha Sorenson, RH 0-0-3---3
#6fr Marika Paumen, MH 0-0-3---3
#6br Ashley Yoss 0-0-0---0
Totals 6-3-23---32 points, 57 points on Armstrong errors

TRENCH PLAYER
Steph Wallin, 7 kills in the 5th game alone.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
team, 1stso/serves--1stso%; pts scored, % earned, % allowed
Armstrong 33/51--.647, 104; .567; .640
Rogers 27/50--.540; 89, .360; .433
If you look at the points allowed you see Rogers had 64% of their points as a result of Armstrong mistakes. Rogers played a decent defensive game waiting for Armstrong to mess up. When Armstrong cleaned up their game, and Wallin mixed up her approaches to keep Rogers off balance, it was over.

Rotation Point totals
Armstrong
1 14-13 +1
2 23-17 +6
3 20-13 +7 Thanks to the 9-1 run in game five this was the best rotation.
4 15-13 +2
5 21-19 +2
6 10-6 +4
Rotations 2, 3, 4 has Wallin in the front row. Armstrong was up +15 when she was there. Up seven when she is in the back.

Rogers
1 23-23 0
2 16-21 -5
3 13-15 -2
4 12-24 -12
5 17-11 +6
6 8-9 -1
Rotation 4 damaged Rogers' chances.

Next up: Tomorrow morning with More Monday results.