M-ettes split games last week

The M-ettes were on both side of a 3-0 game last week as the team defeated Harlem on Thursday, September 13, and fell to Wolf Point on Saturday, September 15.

The team is scheduled to participate in the Roundup Tournament on Saturday, September 22.

In Malta's victory over Harlem, the scores were 25-13, 25-11, and 25-9. The JV and C-Squad teams won in four sets.

“Our serves were on,” Coach Rummel said. “Our girls communicated very well and they moved around the floor effectively. They were following the ball everywhere, tracking it and they had good swings at the net.”

The M-ettes were led by middle hitter Carly Garfield who registered five of the team's 19 kills.

“We moved her to the middle because we were missing one of our starting players,” Coach Rummel said. “She started in the middle and had a really good game. She was up at the net. Her hands were up and she swung through in a lot of her hits.”

Libero Kelbee Denham led all servers in aces, racking up seven of the team's 14.

“She is a really good spot server,” Coach Rummel said. “She can find her spot on the floor and place it pretty effectively..”

Janessa Malmend posted both of Malta's blocks. Kyliegh Schipman led Malta in assists, with 12 of the team's 19. Kloie Marks, Schipman, and Malmend each had seven digs. The team had a total of 37 digs.

Harlem was led by Mackenzie Schaeffer who had five kills.

Though the M-ettes defeated Harlem in a blowout, the team couldn't handle Wolf Point's front-line consisting of Abby Juve and Semarah Wells who both registered eight kills. Imani Bighorn had six of Wolf Point's eight blocks.

“Wolf Point is a great blocking team and they are tall, so I think that got into our girls' heads a little bit,” Coach Rummel said.

The scores in Malta's loss to the Lady Wolves were 25-16, 25-14, and 25-11.

“I think that the girls were distracted,” Coach Rummel said. “It has been a long couple of weeks and I kind of think they got in their own way. The communication wasn't there tonight and they changed their swing a couple of times.”

Malta was led by Raina Mortenson, who had four of Malta's 15 kills. Kaylanna Bain had two aces and Malta had three total. Schipman had nine of Malta's thirteen assists. Malmend had nine of Malta's 43 digs and both of the team's only blocks.

The M-ettes know they have a lot of work to do if they want to defeat tough squads like Wolf Point.

“We are just going to keep working on our defense,” Coach Rummel said. “With a team that doesn't have a lot of height like us, that is key. We have to have a good defense so we can pick up anything that they put down.”

As far as going against dominant blockers in the future, Coach Rummel knows that her team should be able to play through the blocks.

“We also need to work on being blocked,” Coach Rummel said. “It's going to happen, so we need to train for it.”

Malta's JV defeated Wolf Point's JV 25-13, 25-20, 15-13. The Malta Froshmore team also won their game 25-16, 25-9, 15-5.