On August 25th, the Nevada varsity volleyball team traveled to Ankeny Centennial High School for their season opener. The Cubs had a rough day at the tournament finishing 1-4. Although the Cubs had a rough day, there were many positives to take away from the tournament.
“We finished the afternoon with great play and great floor culture,” said Coach Lori Stephenson.
Nevada volleyball girls lost a hard fought match against Centennial 2-0 with game scores of 14-21 and 4-21.
In game one, Nevada had decent ball control but were unable to get offensive attacks. Nevada struggled in game two. Both offense and ball control were off and Ankeny was hot at the net. Amanda Fortmann had a great game with a kill efficiency of .250 (kills minus errors divided by attacks). Along with Kacie Rewerts with 13 kill attempts.
Nevada took one out of three games against Red Oak, who are ranked seventh in 3A and qualified for state last year. Game one was 21-13 with Nevada playing a well-rounded game. Nevada came up just short as Red Oak took the win with a 16-21 victory for game two in hard fought battle Finally, in game three, Red Oak got on a serving run that derailed the Cubs and caused a loss, 6-15.
Some notable players in the games against Red Oak were Mikayla Long leading the team in kill efficiency with .250 (kills minus errors divided by attacks), and Kacie Rewerts having the next best kill efficiency with .120. Amanda Fortmann led the Cubs in assists with 11, and Madison Stevens led the Cubs in digs with 12. The team did a fantastic job with serving. Their combined team serving percentage was .977, and they had two aces.
Nevada lost their third match of the tournament to Linn-Mar of Marion. In the first game, Nevada lost 18-21 but their serving was perfect from the line. In the second match Nevada lost their momentum and lost 12-21. The Nevada defense played very well with 26 digs. Ellie Gray led the team in digs with eight, followed closely by Morgan Tupper with seven. Kelby Rewerts led the team in attacks with an impressive 16.
Nevada began bracket play against Sioux City East at the Ankeny Centennial Tournament. Nevada came out with a ton of momentum and won the first game, 25-14. After losing game two 20-25, the they won game three decisively, 15-9. The Cubs playing a great game with no hitting errors, no serving errors, and decisive serving from Ellie Gray. Nevada’s statistic leaders in the games against Sioux City East were Amanda Fortmann and Hannah Thomsen having kill efficiencies of .500. Kacie Rewerts and Morgan Tupper both had eight digs. Mikayla Long led the team in blocks with four. Nevada did an awesome job on serving with a .983 serving percentage and three aces.
The last match of the day for the Cubs was against the Clinton River Queens. The Cubs fell to Clinton in a exhilarating two-game thriller, with scores of 25-20 and 24-26. Amanda Fortmann and Hannah Thomsen led the team in kills both with an efficiency of .400. Closely following was Sydney Mosinski with an efficiency of .333. As a whole, the team ended with a superb 5 aces from the serving line.
The Cubs’ first home game will be against Roland-Story a conference rival match-up on September 6th.
Article contributed by the Sports Management class.
