AGWSR storms back for five-set win against North Butler

GREENE – AGWSR coach Jill Smith said she couldn’t pinpoint one thing that sparked the turnaround in her team’s astounding five-set comeback over North Butler on Thursday, Sept. 19.

Leading 2-0, North Butler had a late lead in the third set and appeared to be cruising for a sweep.

Until it wasn’t.

“I think it was kind of gradual,” coach Smith said. “I think part of it was us figuring out how to defend them a little bit better. They’re a smart team with the ball, they place the ball very well and I felt like we got sucked into that a little bit. We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be offensively, so I felt like where we made that shift where our offensive got a little bit more aggressive, I think that’s what was going to be key for us.”

If there was one moment more pivotal than all the others, one had to hearken back to the Bearcats taking a 20-19 lead in the third set after a Brooke Trees ace where coach Smith called timeout.

From there, Alyssa Hames recorded one of her two blocks in the match to tie it, North Butler made a hitting error and Taylor Sperfslage served up an ace to take a 22-20 lead and forced a Bearcat timeout. Coach Laura Schwickerath’s team fought back to tie it up at 22, but never regained the lead in that set, forcing a fourth in which the Cougars took control mid-way through.

“I always think it is a scary thing when you win the first two and the other team wins the third one, just because momentum is on their side and it seems to really shift that way,” Schwickerath said. “I didn’t feel at that point that we were going to let that happen. I thought we really needed to finish the third game and we didn’t do that. The last two, we looked out of sync. We didn’t make the adjustments we needed to make for their offense and they made adjustments that they needed to make.”

Also, before the third set started, Cougar freshman outside hitter Brynn Smith, coach Smith’s daughter, had just four kills. By the time the match was over, she’d put down 20. With the left-side heating up, it made a difference down the stretch.

“She started kind of slow and kind of got momentum as we progressed through the match a little bit, for sure,” coach Smith said.

Schwickerath agreed.

“I think they saw the line was open and they took advantage of that,” Schwickerath said. “We didn’t adjust to the blocking line or covering line like we needed to. I also think they made a lot more errors in the first two games, then they cleaned it up a little bit and played really good defense. Our hitters had a hard time finding the floor to put it down for the kill.”

She wasn’t wrong. In the first two sets, AGWSR committed 27 errors ranging from hitting errors to net violations and service errors. The final three sets, the Cougars combined for 18 and eight of those were in the third set.

And AGWSR combined for 70 digs, a good percentage increase in the later sets, covering well. In the first three sets, Sydney Eiklenborg had tallied eight kills, she finished with 10.

Setter Natalie Gerstein finished with 40 of the team’s 42 assists, covering the floor well and adjusting to her passers as the match progressed.

“Natalie does a good job, I never have to question whether she is going to work hard,” coach Smith said. “I know she is going to be out there busting her butt to get to the ball and her set selection is getting better, recognizing who we need to give the ball to and when. That’s something we are still working on. Always a hard worker.

“I feel like we were off all-around (passing). Our serve receive is usually more solid than that. We were pushing her really tight. She’s not a tall setter, we have to give her room at the net to run our offense and even throughout the match, we had the tendency to push her tight, but I felt like we made some good adjustments and pulled it out when we needed to.”

With momentum fully on AGWSR’s side, the Cougars rattled off the first five points of the fifth set and had a 12-6 lead when Schwickerath called her final timeout.

It should be a somewhat of a corner turned for AGWSR since North Butler was rated just the week prior.

“I think it should be a confidence-builder for us, I think we are still really learning how we need to come out and be prepared to play,” coach Smith said. “We had a tough match with Iowa Falls on Tuesday and just rebounding from that and getting ready again to play is something we are struggling with. And that’s a hard thing to do, mentally and physically. It was good for me to see that and turn it around and fight, that was important for us.”

After being ranked for the first time, the Bearcats then went on to be swept by second-ranked (2A) Osage and then lost in the semifinals of the Belmond-Klemme tourney against Hampton-Dumont.

“I would be lying if I said that the girls’ confidence wasn’t down a little bit now and they’re a little bit frustrated with how we played at the tournament (at Belmond) and how we played tonight, as well as not challenging Osage as much as they would have liked to,” Schwickerath said. “But we have to keep focusing on getting better, not wins and losses, on the small details and how we can improve those every day to make our all-around game better.

“I think that we looked a little bit tired the last couple matches, one of my outside (hitters) is running a fever and the other has a bum knee, so we’re taking it day-by-day.”

AGWSR 16-20-25-25-15

North Butler 25-25-23-19-7

Kills – AGWSR (Brynn Smith 20, Alyssa Hames 12, MaKenna Kuper 10, Taylor Sperfslage 6, Natalie Gerstein, Rachel Sicard); NB (Sydney Eiklenborg 10, Cassidy Staudt 8, Kiya Johnson 7, Kristin Dralle 5, Brynn Salge 2, Haley Freesemann, Aubrey Obermier, Brooke Trees). Blocks– AGWSR (Hames 2, Kuper, Sicard); NB (Staudt 4, Dralle 3, Eiklenborg 3, Freesemann, Johnson). Serving– AGWSR (Haleigh Homeyer 14-14, ace; Gerstein 10-10; Alayna Hunt 8-9; Tessa Sperfslage 7-8; Ta. Sperfslage 24-28, 6 aces; Sicard 19-23; Smith 2-5); NB (Trees 19-19, 3 aces; Staudt 9-9; Katelin Barth 14-15, ace; Johnson 14-15; Salge 12-13, ace; Dralle 8-9, ace; Eiklenborg 17-20, 4 aces). Assists– AGWSR (Gerstein 40, Sicard 2); NB (Salge 29, Trees 2). Digs– AGWSR (Smith 20, Ta. Sperfslage 13, Hunt 11, Homeyer 10, Gerstein 6, Sicard 3, Te. Sperfslage 3, Hames 2, Kuper 2); NB (Trees 26, Eiklenborg 13, Johnson 11, Salge 22, Barth 6, Staudt).