Mavericks drop a pair of games

The start of regular season games proved to be rocky for the North Country Mavericks as the team dropped the season opener to Scobey and their home opener to MonDak last week.

“Despite our losses, we did have some pretty amazing improvements,” Lady Mavericks Head Coach Charlene Wasson told the PCN. “We had trouble getting started in game one of both matches last week. Scobey got us down early and so did MonDak.”

In their loss to Scobey in Scobey on Thursday, September 5, the Mavericks dropped the first set 9-25, but the team bounced back to score 21 points in the last two sets.

“I felt like our timing is just off slightly between passers, setters and hitters,” Coach Wasson said. “We are close to getting the connection going so that was nice to see because it helped us battle back to be in the next two games of each match.”

The team had a total of six aces, 27 kills, four blocks, 16 assists, and 45 digs. Kaitlyn McColly led the team with 10 kills, three blocks and nine digs. Jaydyn Erickson and Kia Wasson each had seven kills.

“Against Scobey, Kaitlyn and Kia had some great hits,” Coach Wasson said. “Kia does a great job of hitting down the line at the last minute and making it hard to get to.”

Coach Wasson praised her hitters’ athleticism they showed in the game.

“Kaitlyn pounded the overpasses in that match,” Coach Wasson said. “Their ability to adjust at the end of the hit makes them hard to block.”

Jaycee Erickson had the team lead in assists with nine. Elise Strommen led in digs with 10.

In the team’s loss to MonDak, the scores were 25-12, 25-23, and 25-20. The Mavericks were led by Jaydyn Erickson who had 12 of the team’s 20 kills.

“Against MonDak, Jaydyn was having a great hitting match,” Coach Wasson said. “She found her groove and could really cut the ball in the middle to get it to go between the defenders and around the block.”

McColly led in blocks by registering both of the team’s blocks and Jaycee Erickson had 13 of the team’s 14 assists. Danika Soper had 12 of the team’s 40 digs.

Earlier in the week, Coach Wasson implemented a new accountability system this year called a Failure Recovery System, one that she believes has been paying off en lieu of their slow start.

“Despite our mistakes and errors we held our composure and didn't do what we did last year,” Coach Wasson said. “Every time they make a mistake they need to make eye contact with a teammate, state their mistake out loud and then the teammate is going to give them positive reinforcement and when the player walks away they give themselves a positive reinforcement.”

This accountability system even carries into the team’s film review sessions.

“I decided they needed to write down every possible mistake and what they would say when they made it so they would have a toolbox of words to say and then just repeating the process lets our minds get rid of the negative mistake and move forward gaining confidence in our skills,” Coach Wasson said.

She also shared what the team will focus on during practice this week.

“The focus this week is going to be on serve receive, passing, setters setting second hits and communicating early and loud,” Coach Wasson said. “We are making a great effort to get better, that is one thing about this team from Freshmen to Seniors they work hard every day and have the desire to be better.”

Knowing that there is plenty of season left, Coach Wasson chose to look at the brightside of the team’s early losses.

“This weekend of losses was probably a blessing in disguise because it grounded us to get back to fixing our mistakes and getting better at the little things so we can be in a match at the beginning,” Coach Wasson said.