North Butler volleyball overcomes road test at AGWSR

ACKLEY – Low energy and facing a hostile environment got to North Butler’s volleyball team early at AGWSR, but the 14-4 Bearcats quickly regrouped for a 3-1 non-conference match win over the Cougars on Thursday, Sept. 24.

Even though Sydney Eiklenborg is still not 100 percent from a pre-season ankle injury, the senior posted 15 kills, two blocks, nine digs and was perfect on 16 serves with three aces, including a key run in set two in which North Butler was down 8-2 and she brought North Butler back for a 13-8 lead by the time she was done.

Two of those serves were aces, including a ball that inadvertently hit Brynn Smith while sailing out of bounds and the following was a net roll that just dropped in.

And, when asked how healthy Eiklenborg is, North Butler coach Laura Schwickerath made a face to indicate her outside hitter isn’t 100 percent.

“It’s still bothering her quite a bit,” Schwickerath said. “I think it was still big of her. I looked at her and I know it’s been bothering her, so I just said, ‘you need to be honest with me, how do feel about resting in the back row if we go five?’ Obviously, we want to have her in the front row, she said, ‘yeah, I need a rest.’”

And Eiklenborg said she even has a hard time admitting she can’t go full bore all of the time.

“I’d say about 90-95 percent (healthy),” Eiklenborg said. “I feel, every now and then, a little sore. Other than that, I’m pretty good. It’s hard for me because I’m a person who likes to play, play, play, but I think I’ve really learned, especially this year that when I need a break, it’s okay, so yeah, I just tell her (I need one).”

Thus the 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-15 victory for the Bearcats.

The high energy from AGWSR slowly drifted away, along with it the Cougars’ boisterous student section.

“It was gradual,” AGWSR coach Jill Smith said. “It felt like we came out very strong in the first set, which we have been doing, which is great. But, obviously, we have to maintain it and manage the match. They made some adjustments offensively and I didn’t feel like it was anything we couldn’t defend, but it just got…you could see in the second set it was a battle defending the deep corners, which I felt we defended the deep corners really well the last two matches.

“Coming into the second set, I thought we were good and then I agree, it was gradual through that second set and then I think we were in it in the third or the fourth.”

How North Butler took the crowd out of it also was a slow momentum switch after Schwickerath’s first timeout when her team trailed 8-4 in the first set.

“I think my first timeout I called, I said, ‘you know, their crowd has a lot of energy, don’t let them affect what’s happening with you guys on the court. We’re going to have to communicate that much more to overcompensate that much more because it was so loud in the gym,’” Schwickerath said. “I kind of felt like from that point we kind of ran with it. I do feel like the girls were doing a good job of keeping a next-ball mentality and never counting themselves out of any sets, so always thinking they can fight back or always pushing ahead.”

Eiklenborg added, “We worked a lot on mental toughness throughout practice and games and that kind of stuff and I really feel like we have a good mental toughness. I feel like we really focused on the game and kept each other accountable.”

By the time North Butler put the finishing touches on the match, coach Smith, too, had a look on her face that belied her emotions.

“It was frustrating,” coach Smith said. “I was kind of at a loss. I didn’t know what to do. Maybe I should have made some changes earlier, I don’t know.

“We’ll have the weekend off, which I think is good, I think we need to mentally re-group: We don’t have a break. We play good teams, night-in and night-out, so we really have to be ready to go. We have Iowa Falls, Grundy, we go to the Waverly tournament this year. So, it’s just one good team after the other and you have to be able to have a short memory. Tuesday was a tough match for us, it was an emotional match and I think that carried into today. We have to learn how to be able to let that go even though it was hard, even though we are tired, even though we are mentally drained and figure out how to get it done the next time they are out on the court. That’s where we are not quite at.”

In spite of this, AGWSR gained 14 kills from Brynn Smith and seven apiece from Alyssa Hames and MaKenna Kuper with six from Taylor Sperfslage.

North Butler also got 10 kills from Madison Clipperton and nine from Kiya Johnson. Haley Freesemann chipped in with seven and setter Brynn Salge caught the Cougars off guard with some tips.

Eiklenborg gave quick credit to the middle hitters who drew the block away from her considerable to help her reach the team-high in kills.

“I really like to speed things up, me and my setter connect really well with fast sets and I think that threw them a little bit because they weren’t ready,” Eiklenborg said, “and they also have a lot of our middles drawing the block, which helped a lot, like Haley Freesemann and Kiya, they were both drawing the block really well and that always helps with the inside-outside. Just drawing the block and working a little bit.”

Before the match, AGWSR junior setter Natalie Gerstein was honored for reaching 1,000 career set assists, achieved the prior weekend Colo-NESCO.

And that was still achieved even though the Cougars have been using a two-setter system with Josie Winterberg sharing responsibilities with Gerstein.

“That’s really exciting for her and for our program because you don’t have an assist unless you have somebody that can hit the ball,” coach Smith said. “You can’t set the ball unless you have someone who can pass and so, that’s a reflection on how far we’ve come the last couple of seasons. Looking back at some of the stats prior to that, setters were coming through and not able to reach that milestone. Certainly, that is progress, so that’s positive. My expectations are, you know, far beyond that.”

North Butler 21-25-25-25

AGWSR 25-20-23-15

Kills– NB (Sydney Eiklenborg 15, Madison Clipperton 10, Kiya Johnson 9, Haley Freesemann 7, Brynn Salge 5, Jordan Osterbuhr 2); AGWSR (Brynn Smith 14, Alyssa Hames 7, MaKenna Kuper 7, Taylor Sperfslage 6, Grace Finger 5). Blocks– NB (Johnson 2, Maddy Shultz, Eiklenborg); AGWSR (Hames 4, Kuper 2, Finger 2, Smith). Assists– NB (Salge 30); AGWSR (Gerstein NA, Winterberg NA). Digs– NB (Brooke Trees 27, Clipperton 26, Salge 11, Johnson 9, Eiklenborg 9, Kenzie Groen 7, Shultz 4, Freesemann 3, Osterbuhr 2); AGWSR, NA. Serving– NB (Clipperton 19-19, 4 aces; Eiklenborg 16-16, 3 aces; Johnson 16-17; Salge 14-15, ace; Shultz 10-11; Trees 9-11, ace; Groen 4-5); AGWSR (Alayna Hunt 19-19, 2 aces; Natalie Gerstein 14-15; Haleigh Homeyer 13-14; Tessa Sperfslage 16-18; Smith 10-11, ace, Ta. Sperfslage 4-5).