SCHULENBURG — The Weimar and Schulenburg high school volleyball teams faced off against each other in a tournament bout Aug. 22 at Shorthorns Gym and Weimar was victorious in three sets by a final score of 20-25, 25-19, 25-23.
Schulenburg took a command- ing lead in the first set, then Wei mar was able to rally and capitalize on Schulenburg’s mistakes in the later part of the match to take the win.
“We just keep telling our kids to work and to be better each and every play,” said Weimar head volleyball coach Amanda Machicek. “That’s what we’ve been working on the last week and a half is how to finish games, so they’re coming together as a team and starting to gel. That’s what it takes to be successful.”
Lady Wildcats senior outside hitter Janyah Cooper had a ton of big kills throughout the match to help propel her team to victory.
“Energy, effort, and enthusiasm,” Cooper said on what she’s looking to bring to the team as a senior leader. Schulenburg still has a winning record and has had recent history of being one of the best teams in the area and making deep playoff runs, so they’ll likely be just fine heading into the rest of the season.
“We didn’t get enough quality swings,” said Schulenburg head volleyball coach Donald Zapalac. “We didn’t pass as well as we needed to and we let the pressure get to us a little too much. That’s what we’re trying to work on. We want to be a little tougher mentally. I think that’s one of the biggest things we’re working on right now. We give up a point, then we give up two, then it turns into seven. We got to start learning to be able to handle that pressure and get out of that rotation and go back to scoring points. I feel we’re just making way too many errors right now and helping the other team score points.”
Schulenburg had a 22-16 lead in the first set and rolled to victo ry with a 25-20 set win on a serve out of bounds from Weimar and a tip ball from senior setter Landry Zapalac for the final points.
Both teams went back and forth early in the second set before Schulenburg took a 13-8 lead on a kill from Greenli Van-Zandt and a ball out of bounds from Weimar.
The Lady Wildcats answered and tied the game at 13 on a kill and an ace from senior setter Madison Luckey, then three points in a row from Weimar later in the set on two kills and a block made the scoreboard read 20-17 in favor of Weimar, forcing Schulenburg to call a timeout.
Weimar dominated the remainder of the set with a couple kills and a block to win it 25-19.
The Lady Wildcats surged out to a 4-0 lead in the third set on two aces and a kill, which was followed by Schulenburg battling back and making it 9-8 in favor of Weimar on a kill from Van-Zandt.
Both teams traded points for the remainder of the set on clean points from each team and very few errors, resulting in a tip ball from Weimar, a kill from Schulenburg, and a kill from the Lady Wildcats to win the set and match 25-23.
Schulenburg's Grace Schramek, 12, leaps up and hits a ball over the net. Banner Press photo by Brian Pierson
