The MFL MarMac volleyball team dropped a close match to Turkey Valley, but defeated Clayton Ridge, in an Upper Iowa Conference quad in Monona on Oct. 7.
After edging the Trojans 25-23 in the first set, the Bulldogs couldn’t carry the momentum into a 25-17 set two loss. Turkey Valley won the third and final set 15-11.
“Our match against Turkey Valley started off really strong. I thought we came out with good energy in that first set. We served tough, kept our errors down and played smart volleyball,” said MFL MarMac head coach Becky Johnson. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to maintain that same level of aggressiveness in sets two and three. Their block challenged us, and we struggled to find consistent ways to score. We just made too many errors to pull it out.”
Lily Johnson logged six kills and Blair Winter four, then Maddie Keehner and Addison Corlett each posted three. Corlett was also the team’s assist leader, with 15.
MFL MarMac recorded three blocks, including a solo effort from Winter and assists by Keehner and Devon Meyer. Lauryn Johnson anchored the back row defense with 15 kills—one of three Bulldogs to hit double digits in that column. Lily Johnson picked up 14 and Corlett 12.
Macy McGeough had an impressive game from the service line, making all 13 of her attempts, with one ace. Corlett was also perfect, at 11/11, and Kensey Ball nailed all 10 of her serves—one of which was an ace. MFL MarMac had an overall serve efficiency of 94.4 percent.
Despite the loss, “the good thing is we’re learning how to respond when things don’t go our way,” said Johnson, “and that’s part of the growth we need at t
In game two, the Bulldogs cruised to a 2-0 sweep of Clayton Ridge via scores of 25-11 and 25-10.
The team had a whopping .364 kill efficiency, led by a 12-kill match for Lily Johnson. Keehner and Brooke Hackett each logged four kills and Payton McElwaine three. Corlett paced the offense with 14 assists.
Keehner was also strong at the net defensively, with two solo blocks, and Lauryn Johnson compiled a team-high 14 digs. Ball snagged four digs and three players—McElwaine, Hadyn Meyer and Lily Johnson—all had three.
MFL MarMac connected on 90 percent of serves, including 11 aces. Corlett smashed three of them, in what was a mesmerizing 21/21 performance. Keehner added three aces on 5/6 serving, while Lily Johnson chipped in two on a 6/7 serving game.
“Against Clayton Ridge, it was great to see everyone contribute. We were able to play clean volleyball, execute our game plan and give every player on the roster meaningful time on the court,” Johnson said. “It was a solid team win to close out the night, and now our focus shifts to finishing out conference play strong in our last two matches.”
The Bulldogs, who are now 14-20 overall and 5-4 in the conference, hosted Waukon on Oct. 14, then will head to Crestwood on Oct. 16. They will host Postville in a Class 2A - Region 5 first round postseason match-up on Monday, Oct. 20, beginning at 7 p.m.
