LadyCats subdue Jeffcats in 5

Published:  Saturday, October 11, 2008 (1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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By RAY DEANNE
The Delphos Herald

KALIDA — The Jefferson Lady Wildcats volleyball team traveled to Putnam County to Kalida to battle the Wildcats Thursday night.
The Jeffcats rallied from a 2-game deficit before falling 25-21, 26-24, 24-26, 12-25, 15-5 in a thriller before a Parents’ Night crowd at “The Den”.
The first game was tied at 6 without any sprints from either team. They battled back and forth before the hosts had enough at the end for the win.
During the second game, both teams showed great effort,  clashing at the net with one or two points going either way. By the end, Kalida showed a good team effort and came away with their second win.
At the beginning of the third game, Jefferson senior Ashley Walkins (15 kills; 12 touch/blocks; 22 digs; 18-for-18 serving, 2 aces) gave the team a great boost in effort with a great block and a stuff, giving them first two points. Jefferson put together an 11-point run. Later in the third, Kalida battled back but Jefferson twins Stacey (4 kills; 9 touch/blocks; 3 digs) and Stephanie Blockberger (10 kills; 4 touch/blocks;14 digs; 17-for-17 serving) brought up their offensive and defense skills to win game 3.
In the fourth game, Jefferson exited its shell wanting to play ball with a 10-point run, having some fun, while Kalida was attempting to gather itself. Jefferson kept Kalida on the run as they forced a fifth game.
Topping off the evening with a tie-breaker, Kalida came to the net with eight straight points and righted itself to pull away for the match victory.
“I am very pleased with how the girls played. This is exactly how I wanted them to play going into the tournament,” Jefferson coach Diane Wilson explained. “I thought we finally played like we are capable of. When we played against Grove, we were in a little bit of a slump. We need to fix one area — mental mistakes. We could have won without them; we made far too many that cost us. That’s it; once we fix that, we’re going to go as far as the girls can take us. It was a great game, Kalida is a great team. It was ours for taking if we wanted it. We are playing well again. Ashley in particular played a whale of a match.”
Other leaders for the Jeffcats (16-5) were Mallorie Wilson (8 kills; 22 touch/blocks; 13 digs; 18-for-18 serving, 4 aces), Bridget Culp (13 kills; 2 blocks; 10 digs), Jenna Miller (2 kills; 2 touch/blocks; 16 digs; 14-for-15 serving, 2 aces), Kristin Klausing (20 digs; 20-for-21 serving, 2 aces) and Courtnie Rostorfer (19 digs; 12-for-13 serving, 2 aces).
Jefferson plays Ottoville Tuesday night in the second match of the Lincolnview Division IV sectional.
“We just saw two very good ball teams, they were at it hard. I think both teams are at the end of killer schedules,” Kalida mentor Jeremy Stober noted. “Emotionally, we are tired but we found a way to play when we had to. Our seniors finished the season undefeated at home. We know we can’t play as inconsistent as we did tonight.”
Leading the LadyCats were Jess Knueve (15 kills), Trisha Horstman (10 kills), Ashley Remlinger (9 kills; 6 aces), Julia Fuerst (6 kills; 5 blocks), Amy Hamburg (4 kills; 2 aces), Amy vonderEmbse (5 kills; 20 assists) and Emily Turnwald (19 assists).
Kalida (19-2) is at Crestview for a 10 a.m. start (JV’s first).
The reserve match went to Jefferson 25-15, 9-25, 25-23.

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