Ronan Maidens find balance on court
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After starting out with a bang in their season’s opening match, the Maidens fell into a tough position of “what went wrong” in between but have pulled themselves out to find a blossoming tough crew on the volleyball court.
Confidence played a role in the Maidens’ playing with overconfidence taking control, forcing the Maiden Club to rethink their strategy and then going into the heart of the season with balance.
“I think we were overconfident at the beginning of the season. We just didn’t get over it even though we were kind of losing we knew we were a good team and we just didn’t let it sink in fast enough,” first year head coach Charla Lake said.
After a big District B conference win against Deer Lodge on Thursday, the Maidens have found the spark they were looking for defeating the Lady Wardens 3-1. After falling behind in the first set, the Maidens came back to win three with a vengeance, proving top dog status on the court.
Seniors Kendra Starkel and Danielle Richwine claimed leadership on the court with both pushing up 20 digs apiece. Starkel added six kills and Richwine served up five aces. Teammate Sydnee Clairmont had 12 kills and 13 assists for her team.
Lake believes her seniors are playing a big role and sees the season progressing with the aid of strong senior experience support.
“They’re all very talented, they’re a good group of girls,” she said. “I think even though we’ve had a rough patch we’ll still finish strong because we have these very strong seniors. Their skill level is high.”
Going into postseason, Lake believes her team has a good shot stating “it’s not always cut and dry” and will definitely depend on how the other teams are doing but also goes back to confidence among her Maidens.
“I think that their confidence will end up helping them in the end of the season where it may have hurt them at the beginning. I think (it will) help at the end because they will be aggressive,” Lake said. “It really takes an aggressive team to win. If you just continue to just tip and get the ball over you don’t come out with the win. You can prolong the game but not come out with the win, so I think their confidence will help them because they will be aggressive and hit the ball hard. All my girls hit the ball hard so I think that will help them.”
All in all Lake sees her team advancing to glory with postseason victories on the horizon.
“I think we can finish pretty high if we do well,” she said. “They are just a terrific bunch of girls that are great leaders both on and off the court.”
The Maidens will head into a week of on-the-road play stopping in Troy Oct. 9 and then heading to Thompson Falls Oct. 11.
Results
Ronan def. Deer Lodge 18-25, 25-13, 25-13, 5-18
