Oconto Falls volleyball team swept in battle with Freedom

Panthers see serve receive as area of weakness
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

The Oconto Falls High School volleyball team put up a strong fight, but came up short in each set of a 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 loss to North Eastern Conference foe Freedom on Aug. 31 in Oconto Falls.

There were moments in each set where it felt like the Panthers would pull ahead, but the team was never able to keep the momentum on its side.

Serve receive was the answer from Oconto Falls players and coaches as to why the team fell short.

“With the serve receive, we were getting good runs and then we’d go on slumps where we would get aced four or five times in a row, and then when we did get a pass, our hitters couldn’t put it away,” said senior Hailey Peitersen.

“We gotta clean up our service receive,” said coach Rochell Otto. “We’ve got some great passers and they’ve just got to be confident in themselves and know their roles. We just got aced too much, in my opinion. (Freedom) has some great servers, don’t get me wrong, but we have to adjust.”

Oconto Falls started the match strong, building up a cushion of a couple points on multiple occasions before Freedom went on runs to tighten things back up. The Panthers held several four-point leads, with their last one being 13-9. Freedom flipped the momentum of the set with a 6-0 run.

The visitors went up 19-16 before a Freedom error and kill from Panther junior Tess Maggio brought the hosts within one. More strong serving from Freedom resulted in a 5-0 run to create some separation. Oconto Falls rattled off three straight points to force a Freedom timeout, but the next point went to the visitors on a hitting error to end the first set.

“Our consistency in swinging and serving, serve receive, everything as a whole,” said junior Hanna Krejcarek on what the Panthers could improve on. She added that jitters from playing in front of the home crowd for the first time also cost the team a bit in the first set.

The second set started with the Panthers winning two straight points before Freedom rattled off six consecutive points. The final three points on the run were service aces.

Oconto Falls would later tie the set at seven before a 5-0 run from the visitors helped them regain control. The theme continued with the Panthers tying things at 16 before Freedom claimed six of the next eight points.

Otto said the Panthers could learn something from how Freedom performed against them. She noted how the Irish didn’t compound mistakes, while the Panthers would have a mistake and then see a tight score turn into a sizeable deficit.

“Sometimes, some of our girls will have two or three mistakes in a row and they can’t just let it go,” said Otto. “They got to be able to flush it and get back and be able to get the next (point).”

An early 5-0 run in the third set helped Freedom seize control again. The deficit got to as high as six before the Panthers battled back.

Senior Emmie Magnin posted a couple kills and then was serving when the hosts tied the match at 15. The Panthers were up 18-16 before a 6-0 Freedom run again left the hosts with an uphill climb. Oconto Falls trimmed the deficit to three before a kill sealed the match.

Junior Morgan Kluth led Oconto Falls with nine attack kills on the night, while Maggio had six and Magnin five.

Junior Quinn Eisch posted a team-leading 12 digs for the Panthers, while Peitersen and Krejcarek had 11 digs each.

Peitersen tallied 21 of the team’s 26 assists.

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