Out & About: Shakopee/Eastview

#3 posting 8.22.2008
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

SHAKOPEE sabers 3, EASTVIEW lightning 1
(25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16)

In a battle of #2 and #3 in class AAA it was home team #2 Shakopee winning the season opener over the Eastview Lightning 3-1. It is a new era for the Sabers with Jessica Menden, and Maggie Geske moving on. Of course they have outside hitter Ashley Wittman and libero Mollie Geske returning for the defending AAA State champs. Eastview has many of the pieces from last year back in place. In keeping with the 22 standard set last night, Wittman had 22 kills and 26 points on the night for the Sabers.

Eastview seized advantage early with a six point run, five on the mysterious #12's serve. Lauren Grant had three kills in the first 9 points for Eastview. The Lightning led 9-3 at that point. Shakopee regained their side out game after that with 11 straight first ball side outs. With the Lightning bottled up the Sabers chipped away at the lead. Shakopee didn't get the lead again until 16-15 after an Eastview lift. Eastview took a time out after Shako took a 20-17 lead. The Sabers maintained a two-three lead the rest of the way.

Game two was almost a flip of game one--Shakopee had the advantage early and Eastview closed hard. Shako won the race to 5, 10 and 15. Neither team was that far away from each other. The biggest lead came at the start with the Sabers up 4-1. Eastview broke free from a 16 all tie with four straight points, two on Karlee Lursen kills to lead 20-16. Lursen had six kills overall in game two. Shakopee answered with three straight forcing a Lightning time out. That stopped the momentum with a block by Grant. The key in game two was the FBSO for Eastview-at the start of this game it was 2/7, in the second half of the game they were 5/6.

Once again the momentum shifted in game three. Just as in the previous games the team that got the jump was passed up. Shakopee served out of order which caused a big delay. After the paperwork and scores were corrected (and a time out due to confusion on the Saber receive formation) Eastview led 14-10. That only got the Sabers competitive juices flowing. After that ordeal they closed with a 15-7 run. Their first lead came a run of three capped by two back line aces by Wittman 18-16. That forced an Eastview time out. Just as in the previous games the TO did the job as Grant got the ball back on an overpass kill. The Lightning tied the game at 20 after a block by Steph Kent. Shakopee regained the lead after a deft setter dump by Megan Westlund. Eastview had one more serve, but they hit the net and then two hitting errors later Shako was up 2-1. For the match Eastview missed 12 serves.

The fourth game was a nip and tuck affair with neither team getting a big advantage. That all broke open with a Shakopee 8 point run with three of those points coming on Jen Theis kills. For the first time all night Eastview's time out magic evaporated. The Lightning time outs at 19-15 and 22-15 couldn't stop the Shako Express. Fittingly Wittman put the final ball down capping a 22 kill night.

Notes: It was my first time at the Shakopee gym--the lighting was very good, more schools need to upgrade their lights. The crowd was big with just one side of the bleachers pulled. Yesterday at Andover both sides were pulled. We made the mistake of sitting in the student body section early. After the first game we migrated to the upper altitudes.

You can see the entire Shakopee vs Eastview photo gallery at kevinanderson.photostockplus.com. Photos by Coach Teas.

rotation, player, (year) position, aces-blocks-kills---totals
SHAKOPEE
1. Elizabeth Benusa (2010) OH 1-0-7---8
1. Emily Schroers (2011) DS 1-0-0---1
2. Mollie Geske (2010) L 0-0-0---0
2fr: Jean Theis (2010) MB 0-1.5-8---9.5
3. Megan Westlund (2011) S 0-0.5-2---2.5
4. Ashley Wittman (2010) OH 2-2-22---26
5. Mariah Monnens (2010) MB 0-0.5-3---3.5
5br: Mollie Geske
6br: Bri Duff (2009) DS 0-0-0---0
6fr: Claire Sames (2012) RS 0-0.5-2---2.5
totals: 4-5-44---53 points, 43 points on Eastview errors

EASTVIEW
1. Anna Olson (2009) S 0-0-0----0
2. Ashley Murtha (2011) OH 1-0-9---10
3. Steph Kent (2009) MH 1-4-3---8
3br: Kaiti Wachter (2009) L
4br: #12 ???? (???) DS 1-0-0----1
4fr: Kelsey Shile (2011) RS 0-1-10---11
5. Karlee Lursen (2009) OH 3-0-12---15
6fr: Lauren Grant (2010) MH 0-2-17---19
6br: Kaiti Wachter (2009) L 0-0-0----0
totals: 6-7-51---64 points, 20 points on Shakopee errors

TRENCH PLAYER
Ashley Wittman

BY THE NUMBERS
team, fbso/fbso attempts; fbso %; points, % earned; % allowed
Shakopee 34/55-.618; 96; .552; .238
Eastview 29/55-.527; .762; .448
Runs 3+: Shakopee 9, Eastview 6
Longest run: Shakopee 8, Eastview 6
Missed Serves: Eastview 12, Shakopee 2
Time Out %: Eastview 5/7-.714; Shakopee 0/3-.000

ROTATIONS
SHAKOPEE
1. Benusa 26-13---.667
2. Geske 20-13---.606
3. Westlund 10-11---.476
4. Wittman 13-22---.371
5. Monnens 13-13----.500
6. Duff 14-12---.538
totals: 96-84---.533

EASTVIEW
1. Olson 12-27---.308
2. Murtha 13-14---.481
3. Kent 12-12 ---.500
4. #12 ??? 19-15 .559
5. Lurson 14-11 .560
6. Wachter 14-17 .452
totals: 84-96---.467

race to 5-10-15-20-25
game 1 E E E S S
game 2 S S S E E
game 3 E E E S S
game 4 S S S S S

Next up: tomorrow