Football might be the focus come Friday, but on Tuesday, the Homecoming Week stage belonged to the Panther volleyball team.
The Panthers, behind total dominance at the net, made it look easy Tuesday in a 25-10, 25-12, 2515 Camden Conference sweep of Ortonville, much to the delight of head coach Heather Kamrud-Rice.
“The kids have been working hard on serve receive; the passing set us up today, and the setters did a great job moving the ball around,” Kamrud-Rice said.
Kamrud-Rice’s postgame comments summarized her team’s all-around dominance. And it started right away, as TMB built a 10-3 lead to open the match. That run included two service aces by Allie Adams. Those were two of the Panthers’ nine service aces — Gretchen Lanoue led with six, as the Panthers served over 92% for the match.
TMB controlled the net as well in the first set. Melaina Ankrum recorded three of her match-high 12 kills in that opening set, and the Trojans could get no closer than 13 but we’re not always good at finding the open court,” Karmrud-Rice said. “We did a good job tonight looking for the open court. A lot of smart plays were made tonight, not just big swings.”
The Panthers were in control of the opening moments of Set 2 as well, building a 10-2 cushion with the help of three Lanoue aces. Ortonville didn’t do themselves any favors after that, committing numerous hitting and serving errors that prevented the Trojans from getting any closer than five points. TMB closed the set with an impressive 12-2 run as Lanoue racked up three more aces.
Set 3 was a bit of a different story, as the Trojans appeared to have figured things out. Ortonville pulled to within 14-13 before an Ankrum kill. Later, two kills by Alli Dolan put the Panthers at match point, and the match ended on another Trojan service error.
“We always say in every match, you’ve got to be ready for the other team to go on a run; I feel like we stayed calm and steady when Ortonville made a run on us,” said Kamrud-Rice.
Ankrum finished with a match-best 12 kills, but Kamrud-Rice said the senior hitter has elevated her game beyond just kills.
“I think sometimes Melaina is doing things that she doesn’t get credit for,” Kamrud-Rice said. “When she’s at the net, she is always a threat — setting, hitting, blocking. Not to take anything away from the other girls because they’re all very smart, but tonight it was nice for Melaina to get the numbers of the board.”
Adams kicked down eight kills; Dolan had 15 set assists; and Braelynn Kirk had a team-high 10 digs.
TMB will start October with a match at CMCS-Prinsburg tonight, and are back at home to face YME on Tuesday.
Ortonville 10 12 15 TMB 25 25 25 Kills: Ankrum 12, Adams 8, Dolan 5, Knott 3, Lanoue 2, Kirk. Set assists: Dolan 15, Ankrum 9, Kirk 2, Knakmuhs 2, Lanoue. Serve %: 93.2%. Service aces: Lanoue 6, Adams 2, Knakmuhs). Digs: Kirk 10, Adams 9, Knakmuhs 9, Lanoue 6, Dolan 6, Ankrum 3, Knott 2.
Blocks: Dolan, Kirk, Lanoue.
SEPT. 24: TMB 3, MACCRAY 0 The Panthers earned their second straight sweep last Thursday — 25-19, 25-18, 2523 — in Camden Conference action.
Allie Adams again led the Panthers in kills with a seasonhigh 16. Melaina Ankrum and Braelynn Kirk had seven and six kills, respectively.
Kirk also had 17 digs and a pair of service aces; Alli Dolan had 20 set assists’ Gretchen Lanoue had 15 digs and four service aces: and Ankrum added 14 digs and seven set assists.
