Mavs defeat M-ettes

The North Country Mavericks showed they were up to the challenge by downing the Malta M-ettes last Friday, September 29, in Whitewater, tying the regular season series.

"It felt really good," Maverick co-captain Sydney Zeller told the PCN. "We worked together as a team and I think that's what won it."

The Mavericks also went to the Plentywood Invitational on Saturday, September 30, an event that hosted North Country, Plentywood, Westby-Grenora, Scobey, Lustre and Froid-Lake.

In the Mavericks' win over Malta, North Country was led by senior Jada Sudbrack who had eight kills. The scores were 25-22, 25-22, 25-14 and 25-18.

"I was feeling really good," Sudbrack, the team's other captain said. "I just gotta go 100 percent all of the time and hit it at them as hard as I can."

Mickayla Johnson had a game high of eight blocks. Casity Boucher had 15 assists, Elise Strommen had 12 digs and Danika Soper had four aces.

The Mavericks had a total of 23 kills, 22 digs, 22 assists, 14 aces and 10 blocks.

Malta was led by Ella Schye who had 11 digs and four blocks. Sam Mitchell had 14 digs, 12 assists and six aces.

Malta had a total of 51 digs, 28 kills, 24 assists, 17 aces and five blocks. It was Malta's serving that caught North Country by surprise this time.

"I definitely think they had better serves," Zeller said. "They were definitely harder on their serves."

The last time these teams met, Malta's front line gave Sudbrack fits.

"I just had to hit around the blocks and see where the coverage was," Sudbrack said.

It seemed as though the Mavericks were going to shut the M-ettes out, returning the favor that was done to North Country when the teams met in Malta a few weeks ago. Malta's strong finish to the third set ended those hopes.

"I just crashed my car into the bridge," a smiling Zeller said, metaphorically. "Then my team repaired me so we are good. I don't really know what happened."

The Mavericks headed to Plentywood the following day with a plan.

"Communication and covering under our hitters more instead of backing off (will be key) because sometimes the ball goes off of the blocker's hands," Sudbrack said.

The team was able to win a couple of sets throughout the event and would pull off a win, but the team lost out in their first match of the tournament.

They lost out to Froid-Lake. The scores were 25-22 and 25-20.

In pool play, they lost their first set to Lustre 25-23, but were able to win the second 25-22. They then played Froid-Lake and dropped those sets, 25-22 and 25-20. They would face Plentywood and tie that match. The scores were 25-19 and then 25-8 in favor of Plentywood.

The team was able to pick up their lone win in Plentywood against Westby-Grenora. The scores were 25-22 and 25-21. Scobey eventually won the championship over Westby-Grenora in the tournament.

The Mavericks will face Poplar in Poplar on Friday, October 6, at 5 p.m. and Scobey in Hinsdale on Saturday, October 7, at 2 p.m.