Mavs have rough weekend

Defensive and hitting woes have struck the North Country Mavericks early in the season as the team faced tough competition this past weekend.

The team dropped their game against the Scobey Lady Spartans, losing the match 3-1 last Friday, September 8 in Scobey. The team then went 1-for-15 in sets against opponents at the Froid / Lake Invitational at the Froid High School Gymnasium last Saturday, September 9.

In the team's loss to Scobey, the scores were 25-14 Mavericks, 25-6 Spartans, 25-16 Spartans and 25-14 Spartans.

Senior Sydney Zeller led the team with four aces. Jada Sudbrack had six kills and five blocks. Freshmen setter Danika Soper had 12 assists.

The team was without their primary setter Casity Boucher, but Mavs Coach Barry Malone admitted that Soper played well.

"It was a new wrinkle for our kids because she is not used to playing with them (the varsity players) and they are used to Casity setting the ball up but Danika played the best she could at that level," Coach Malone said.

The switch in setters wasn't the main issue in their loss, according to Coach Malone.

"We made a lot of serve receive errors that were so easy that we shouldn't have had," he said. "We just kind of took things for granted after we won the first set and thought things were going so easy but we didn't come out and play well in the last three at all."

Things slightly improved for the team during the Froid / Lake Invite, taking one of two sets against Jordan the next day. They dropped the first set 19-25 and won the second 25-20.

"We don't come out very strong right away," Coach Malone said. "We don't come ready to ready the ball at serve-receive and that has been our biggest problem last year and it's still our biggest problem this year is passing and handing the serve to our setter."

Coach Malone noted that the team was able to get several strong serves from Sudbrack and Zeller in their second set against Jordan.

They lost two sets to Richey-Lambert, the scores being 21-25 and 22-28.

The team lost out of the tournament in the quarterfinals against Plentywood, losing both sets 25-18 and 25-12.

The Lady Mavericks are scheduled to face Lustre Christian in Hinsdale on Friday, September 15 at 6 p.m. The team will then see their first action in Whitewater this season as they go to defend their turf against Class B's Poplar Indians on Saturday, September 16, at 5 p.m.

"We gotta be able to handle the serve and pass the ball," Coach Malone said about this week's upcoming action. "If we can't do that then we don't give ourselves a chance at the net."

In previous action, the Lady Mavericks defeated the Nashua - Opheim Porcupines on Friday, September 1 in Saco.

Sudbrack and Mickayla Johnson led the charge with five kills a piece. Johnson had six aces and Boucher had 19 assists.

The scores were 25-10, 26-6 and 25-14.

In their season opener, the Mavericks defeated Harlem in four sets on Thursday, August 31. The scores were 25-27, 25-19, 25-21 and 25-11.