M-ettes sweep Mavericks

The Malta M-ettes swept the season series against the North Country Mavericks last Thursday, October 13, in Malta, with a 3-1 win. The scores of the game were 21-25, 25-19, 25-17 and 25-14. They would then lose to the Poplar Indians 3-1 on Saturday, October 15 on Malta’s Senior Night.

“I think it was our teamwork,” M-ette junior Sam Mitchell told the PCN. “We were all just good tonight, talking loud and it was really fun.”

The M-ettes were led by Julia Meisdalen, who led Malta in kills with six of 27. Ella Schye had four of six team blocks. Mitchell led in digs with 13, aces with seven and in assists with nine.

North Country was led by Mickayla Johnson who led in kills with eight of 17, digs with eight of 35 and blocks with three of six. Casity Boucher had all 14 assists for the Mavericks and Bailey Funk had four of 11 aces.

The matches between North Country and Malta have been a good way for local county players to compete against each other.

“It’s fun because you know or have heard of everyone you’re going up against,” Mitchell said. “So, it’s just a bunch of familiar faces. You know how they play and it’s just fun to challenge yourself by going against them.”

Things looked like they were falling apart for the M-ettes as the team dropped the first game to the Mavericks. The teams were neck and neck, even being tied 18-18. The M-ettes were plagued with several hitting errors in hitting, fielding and serving and they ultimately dropped the set.

The team would bounce back in a huge way in the final three sets with sound attacks, fielding kill attempts and defending the net against some pretty strong hits from Johnson and Sudbrack. Meisdalen saw many of those hits up close.

“It was kind of intimidating but I think I do better against them because I’m so worried and nervous about it,” Meisdalen said.

Raleigh Hunter, Malta’s Libero was all over the floor covering hits, chasing the ball across the court. A couple of times her efforts didn’t pay off and seemed painful.

“One of my teammates just shanked the ball and I went over and I tried to save it,” Hunter said. “I got a touch on it but I didn’t get it all the way in.”

Hunter’s aggressiveness on the court comes from a will to compete.

“It’s probably because I wanted to win and I just play as aggressive as I can,” Hunter said. “I go for everything because I feel like everything is playable.”

The M-ettes dropped their next game to the Poplar Indians 3-1. The scores were 25-18, 27-25, 24-26 and 25-20.

The M-ettes were led by Schye who had 16 of 42 kills and one block. Mitchell had four of 12 aces, 23 digs and 23 of 41 assists.

The M-ettes will take on the Roundup Lady Panthers on Thursday, October 20 in Malta, with games starting at 3 p.m.

The M-ettes have one more week of games before the District 2B Tournament starts on Friday, October 28, and they know that they need to work on one key aspect of the game.

“We can definitely improve on our communication,” Meisdalen said. “Sometimes when we’re not doing so good, we just get down on ourselves and we just stop talking. Sometimes it takes a lot to bring us back down.”