BROOKINGS The Brookings volleyball team saw a 2-0 lead disappear on Tuesday night in the season opener as the Bobcats lost 3-2 to Aberdeen Central.
It was a tough fifth set for the Cats as they fell behind 11-3. Brookings then trailed 14-5 and won two points but eventually fell 15-7 in the final set. Bobcat head coach Erinn Thomas said she thought her team lost some confidence throughout the match and their defense struggled in the final set.
[Aberdeen Central] was pretty terminal on the outside. [Lauryn] Burkhard had some nice swings out there. For us, defensively, we just didnt make adjustments with our floor defense and our blocking. We just kind of lacked the confidence that we had in the first two sets and you could see that playing out in the last three sets, Thomas said.
The two teams battled in the first two sets but each set ended similarly as Brookings pulled away and won each set 25-20. Thomas said the Bobcats did a good job of playing fast and with confidence in the first two sets.
I think we served really tough and we were able to keep them out of system in the first two sets. I loved the energy. We played with a lot of confidence and ran a pretty fast offense in the first two sets. It was fun to see that spark and that energy, Thomas said.
Aberdeen Central handled the Bobcats in sets three and four, winning each set 25-17. Thomas said the difference in the final three sets was errors.
They passed really well in the final three sets and we made more errors than them. Whether it was hitting errors, serving errors, we let some balls drop on our side that we didnt in the first two sets, Thomas said.
Brookings had 34 kills, 94 digs and 33 assists as a team. Macy Even led the Bobcats with 17 kills and 22 digs. Avery Dentlinger had seven kills and Sloan McLagan had 23 digs. Kamryn Streich had 29 assists and 16 digs. Taylee Connot had 16 digs and Maddy Fickbohm had 13 digs. Even and Fickbohm each had two blocks as well.
Brookings will head to Hamlin on Thursday to take on the Chargers at 7:15 p.m. The Bobcats will then play in the Huron Invitational on Saturday. Thomas said her team can learn from Tuesday nights loss and is looking forward to seeing how her team responds in the next four days.
We talked about it in the locker room, knowing that we played really great the first two sets and had a lot of confidence, thats a really great start to the season. To have the spark and the energy. We know what we need to make changes on with making adjustments mid-game with defense and blocking. That will be a big emphasis for the next practice and then were going to be in Hamlin on Thursday and head to Huron this weekend, so there will be a lot of games to work some of that stuff out, Thomas said.
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