Spartans advance with win over Cougars
The Exira-EHK Spartans volleyball team is moving on to the Class 1A Region 8 Quarterfinals after a clean sweep of the CAM Cougars Monday night winning (25-23, 25-23, and 25-21).
“Oh my gosh, it feels amazing, and I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team,” said Spartan Senior Mayne Jorgensen. “All of our hard work is paying off, and it feels really good.”
Set one opened with the Spartans getting the first point, taking an early lead. However, the Cougar offense hung with them at one point trailing 16-13 before Cougar head coach Hilary Zimmerline called a timeout. The match ended when Spartan Junior Jaelynn Petersen came up with a kill, giving the Spartans a 1-0 series lead.
Set two began with a kill from Spartan Sophomore Taryn Petersen, which led to a 5-0 Spartan run before the Cougars got their first point on Jaelynn Petersen hitting the ball out of the bounds. The Cougars took the lead 7-6 when Junior Jaci Eden served the ball that went off Jaelynn Petersen. However, the Spartans rallied to tie the set at 18, ultimately winning the set going up 2-0.
“I think we’ve came prepped for every single game,” said Jaelynn Petersen. “We know they are going to be a challenging team, but we just had to use our strengths to work through it.”
Set three began with the Cougars getting the first point when the ball fell in open territory on the Spartans side of the court and nobody was able to save it. However, the Spartans offense got going once again, with kills from Jaelynn and Taryn Petersen, along with digs in the backcourt Jorgensen. The final point of the night came from Jaelynn Petersen when she came up with her 14th kill of the game winning the set, ending the Cougars season and sending her team to the next round of Regionals.
“We’ve set some goals for ourselves in these Regionals,” said Spartan Head Coach Derek Reischauer. “We haven’t met those yet, but it’s good we can move on. We knew CAM was going to be tough, they always are. The girls did a good job tonight, so I’m really happy for them.”
During the match, Jaelynn Petersen earned her 500th career kill for the Spartans. Reischauer said he was proud of Petersen’s accomplishment.
“She’s fun to work with, fun to coach, and fun to watch,” he said. “She said in the locker room that if it isn’t for everyone else doing their job, she can’t do her job, so it’s a team effort. She puts in a lot of work and a lot of time and I’m happy for her.”
The Spartans’ next opponent will be the 25-10 Fremont-Mills Knights Wednesday night. The Knights are led by Junior Lana Alley with 453 assists, Senior Carlie Chambers with 239 kills and 52 serve aces, Junior Hayleigh Mattox with 84 blocks, and Senior Bella Gute with 515 digs.
“We definitely need to stay focused,” Jorgensen said. “I think sometimes we definitely get unfocused, and we lose our track of togetherness as a team. We need to use all of our options, not panic, really calm down, and do the fundamentals first.”
