Lady Bobcats break slump with two big wins

Prior to last week’s games against Arlee and Lincoln, the Superior Lady Bobcat volleyball team had dropped the fifth set in their last three games.

But on Tuesday night the Lady Cats headed to Arlee looking not only to change their luck, but to honor the passing of senior Michele Smith’s aunt – Carlila Warnken. The squad all wrote the initials C.W. on their arms prior to the road game and a combination of the extra motivation and big plays broke the streak of bad luck.

“The girls fought back after losing the first match and really came together and played as a team,” Head Coach Beth Janney said. “We saw big plays from Michele Smith and leadership from Jordan Mueller. Freshman Emma Duboise stepped in and served two aces in the final game, making big plays for us.”

The Bobcats efforts resulted in a five-set victory over Arlee (17-25,25-23,25-17,15-25,15-7) and for Smith the victory was a step in the right direction for the squad.

“It felt amazing,” Smith said. “After going to five games in the last three times and losing was definitely hard. But now that we know how to win and push our selves it makes me appreciate how far we have come. Not to mention our first win came the night we put my aunts initials on our arms.”

On Saturday, the Lady Cats hosted Lincoln and found themselves in another battle, dropping the first game and then scraping their way back to win in five games.

“In each game that we lost this match the girls fought back and closed the gaps,” coach Janney said. “Our serves where much better this game, we hardly saw any errors from the line, which is something we really practiced on Friday. The girls dealt with a line up change and were still able to perform.

Coach Janney also singled out several of her players for playing key roles in the five-set victory (23-25, 25-13, 25-15, 21-25, 17-15.)

“Mackenzie Stager was put into a position she hasn’t played all year and she delivered for our team,” Coach Janney said. “Nadeia Ewoniuk really stepped up as a leader in the back row, which is something we’ve been working on all season and things finally clicked for her, she had an amazing game.”

Smith, the sole senior on the team, said her goals as the season progresses is to keep the team close and make sure every player is part of things both on and off the court.

“It’s really important being a close team,” Smith said. “Because we are the only ones on the court that control what happens. Bring up spirits or working hard is all made up from the team.”

Coach Janney said that this week it was “wonderful” to see her squad get used to playing together and is looking forward to the upcoming competition.

“They have really come together as a team and now that we have a few wins under our belts I hope they can go out there and relax and continue to perform,” Coach Janney said. “This week we will be playing Granite and a tournament on Saturday so we are going to prepare for both by working hard in practice as always and really working on finishing a game strong. I’m proud of the performances I saw in all the girls this week, and the team I saw out on that court these past few days.”