Mavericks Pick Up Wins, To Face Lustre, Lady Wolves

The North Country Maverick Volleyball team picked up a few wins last week, defeating the Harlem LadyCats 3-1 in Whitewater last Thursday, October 3. They defeated Froid-Medicine Lake 3-1 and Brockton 3-0 in double header games last Friday, October 4, in Hinsdale.

The Mavericks were scheduled to face the Chinook Sugarbeeters on Tuesday, October 8, in Chinook. They will also face the Wolf Point Lady Wolves in Hinsdale on Thursday, October 10, and the Lustre Christian Lady Lions in Lustre on Saturday, October 12.

The scores in the Mavs' win over Harlem in Whitewater were 25-8, 25-16, 23-25, and 25-5.

Junior setter Kennedy Simonson, a student at Whitewater High School was asked about the key to their win over Harlem.

"Our key was just connecting with each other, we've been struggling with connection and I feel like today we really connected," Simonson said. "From our passes, to our sets, to our kills, it all connected and flowed, really well. That's something we've been struggling with, so I'm really happy that we fixed that tonight."

The Whitewater Penguin was asked about hosting a game in her home gym.

"Well, it feels pretty good," Simonson said. "All of our home games are not really home games. We go to Hinsdale and Saco, we get our two home games a year per sport and it's actually really nice and it feels like you know, you got your Penguin pride with all the green around, you know. We love our Penguins up here, so it's really nice."

Team stats against Harlem: Aces: Team 14, BaiLee McColly 6, and Gracie Wasson 3. Kills: Team 37, BaiLee McColly 11, Emerson Downing 10, and CharLee McColly 8. Assists: Team 32, Kennedy Simonson 16, Gracie Wasson 15, and Berkley Hillman 1. Digs: Team 55, Berkley Hillman and Emerson Downing each with 13, Ireland Mears 11, and Gracie Wasson 9. Blocks: Team 2, BaiLee McColly 2

B. McColly was asked about her approach to hitting.

"You really just have to track the ball," McColly said. "I mean, sometimes the sets are off, but you just gotta track and snap your wrists and just swing with power."

North Country plays a few Class B teams throughout the season, and the team had the chance to play a C-Squad game, JV game and varsity game against Harlem, something that doesn't happen often. Simonson is a fan of having a three team event.

"It gets all our players a lot of playing time and it also brings up our level of competition because Class C schools sometimes have a hard time getting enough girls to play, let alone put together a good team," Simonson said. "So it's really nice to have harder competition and to actually get to have all levels play and get lots of playing time."

In the team's win over Froid-Medicine Lake, the scores were 18-25, 25-15, 25-19, and 25-17.

Team stats against Froid-Medicine Lake: Aces: Team 13, Kodi McColly 6, and Gracie Wasson 4. Kills: Team 41, CharLee McColly 13, BaiLee McColly 7, and Gracie Wasson 6. Assists: Team 31, Gracie Wasson 17, and Kennedy Simonson 13. Digs: Team 66, Kennedy Simonson 15, Berkley Hillman 13, Emerson Downing and Gracie Wasson each with 9, and Ireland Mears 7. Blocks: Team 5, BaiLee McColly 2, CharLee McColly, Emerson Downing, and Gracie Wasson each with 1.

In the Mavs' win over Brockton, the second game of the double-header, the scores were 25-4, 25-10, and 25-8.

Team stats against Brockton: Aces: Team 21, Berkley Hillman 7, Kodi McColly and CharLee McColly each with 3. Kills: Team 28, BaiLee McColly 7, and Berkley Hillman, Emerson Downing, Lyli Bear, Gracie Wasson, and CharLee McColly, each with 3. Assists: Team 19, Emerson Downing and Gracie Wasson each with 8. Digs: Team 10, Berkley Hillman, Emerson Downing, Kodi McColly, and Layna Jones each with 2. Block: BaiLee McColly 1.

McColly was asked about playing in a double header.

"It can be pretty exhausting, sometimes I think we just need to really talk with each other and communicate, because sometimes when you get exhausted your brain kind of fogs up or shuts down," McColly said. "I think we just need to push through that and work our way through it."