Mavericks go 1-2 at Eastern C

The North Country Mavericks volleyball team put on quite a show in their 2019 postseason run, but their season ended on Friday, November 8, at the Eastern C Divisional in Sidney.

The Mavericks defeated the Ekalaka Bulldogs 3-2 in the opening round of the Eastern C on Thursday, November 7. The team would then fall to the Plentywood Wildcats 3-0 in the second round the same day. The season ended the next day, on Friday, November 8 as North Country fell 3-1 to the Wibaux Longhorns.

"We did a good job on the weekend of being competitive and playing together," Mavericks Coach Charlene Wasson said. "We also gave ourselves the opportunity to set up our attacks by passing well."

In the team's win over Ekalaka, the scores were 25-18 EKA, 25-17, 26-16 NC, 25-14, 15-12.

The Mavericks were led by Kaitlyn McColly who had 17 kills, 18 digs and three aces. Kia Wasson had ten kills and 114 digs. Jaydyn Erickson had ten kills.

Danika Soper had a team-leading 19 assists and 14 digs. Elise Strommen had the team lead in digs with 20. Jaycee Erickson had 18 assists.

The Mavericks had a total of 48 kills, 80 digs, 38 assists, nine aces, and one block.

"Our first match against Ekalaka we really struggled serving and that led to the Bulldogs winning the first two matches," Coach Wasson said. "Then we buckled down and relaxed a bit and started playing and we won the next three sets to win the match."

The Plentywood Wildcats proved again to be the cream of the crop in the Eastern C only losing two sets throughout the entire tournament. The Wildcats defeated the Mavericks 3-0. The scores were 25-18, 25-18, 25-15.

Kia Wasson led the team with seven kills and nine digs. McColly had six kills. Strommen led the team in digs with 10. Jaycee Erickson had 10 assists and Soper had 7. The Mavericks had a total of 18 kills, 17 assists, 39 digs, no aces, and no blocks.

"Our timing and anticipation were just a bit off and lead to us not getting any blocks which we needed to slow down their powerful attack on the outside," Coach Wasson said. "Our diggers were trying to get there but their attacks were to fast and too powerful for us to get a consistent dig to return an attack."

In their season ending loss to Wibaux, the scores were 25-23 NC, 25-14 WB, 25-21 WB, and 25-15 WB.

The Mavericks were led by Wasson who had 11 kills, 21 digs and two blocks. McColly had 11 kills and 13 digs. Jaycee Erickson had 15 assists and ten digs. Danika Soper had 12 assists. The team had a total of 35 kills, 59 digs, 27 assists, seven aces, and four blocks.

The team totals over the weekend included 101 kills, 178 digs, 82 assists, 16 aces and five blocks. Seventy-nine percent of the team's serves were playable during the tournament.

"Divisionals is one step up from Districts and we competed hard, just had more mistakes then we would have liked," Coach Wasson siad. "Our biggest stat that stands out as being the killer was our serving percentage. We ended up serving 77% for the tournament and you can't win many matches with that kind of percentage it ends up being automatic points for the other team."

Despite the serving errors, Coach Wasson was proud of how her team competed.

"Our last locker room talk was about how proud I was of how they improved their skills this season but what really made my season was looking at each one of them and seeing how much they have grown as a person," Coach Wasson said. "I remember the little things they did for each other and us as coaches. How they survived the hard things by leaning on a team. They grew as individuals but what they contributed to the team was much larger than themselves as individuals."

During their locker room talk, Coach Wasson asked each of the Mavericks to say what they had learned from the teams' seniors Halle Beil and Elise Strommen.

"The kind words that outpoured was something to be proud of," Coach Wasson said. "They spoke of their leadership, ability to come to practice with smiles on their faces each and every day, how they were always concerned with everyone and made it a point to make sure they talked to each person. In all everyone was grateful to have had their leadership and positive role models they were."

Coach Wasson was asked to describe this year's Mavericks team using one word. She chose the word "Together."

"I use a word every week to focus on some aspect that contributes to team success and individual success," Coach Wasson said. "The word last week was 'together' and if I were to describe this team this season it would be Together. We lost together, won together, grew together and did it all together. We may not have had it all together every match but together we have it all."