Mavericks lose two games in five

The Mavericks' volleyball team is focusing on the small things in hope for their bigger aspirations as the season continues.

"We are getting better every day and working on the little things like leadership, enthusiasm, and steadiness," said North Country Mavericks Head Coach Charlene Wasson.

The North Country Mavericks lost a couple of five-set games last week, falling to the Poplar Indians on Friday, September 14, and then to the Lustre Christian Lions on Saturday, September 15.

"We are an inexperienced team making improvements and kids are stepping up and doing things they haven't had to do before," Coach Wasson said.

Though they dropped the two opening sets in both of their outings, the Mavericks were able to win the third and fourth sets against their opponents, making them anything but an easy team to defeat.

In their loss to Lustre last Saturday in Whitewater, the scores were 21-25, 12-25, 25-19, 25-23, and 9-15.

"We really need to talk more," said Maverick middle hitter Jaydyn Erickson. "I think that communication is the main thing that we need to work on."

Erickson led the team with seven kills and five blocks.

Kaitlyn McColly had six kills and four blocks. Danika Soper led in assists with six. Elise Strommen and Soper tied for the lead in digs with 11 each. Sarah Boucher led in aces with two.

The team had a total of 51 digs, 22 kills, 16 blocks, 10 assists, and seven aces.

Though the team fell behind two games, the Mavericks gave the crowd in Whitewater a show in the final three sets, seeming to become more invigorated in the middle of the third set.

"I think what brought us up was the other team's intensity and we realized that we had to match their intensity to get where we needed to be in the game," Erickson said.

Outside hitter Kia Wasson, shared things from her point of view.

"It was not fun to be down by that much on top of losing the first two matches," Wasson said. "So, in the huddle, we were like 'okay guys we have to cheer each other on when something good happens and when something bad happens we have to be upbeat, so we don't get down by a lot.'"

During the game, Lustre kept attacking the spot in between the defensive lines, but North Country made adjustments that would help them overcome a five-point deficit in the fourth set.

"Lately we haven't been covering that well," Wasson admitted.

She went on to say that the team would make adjustments in their huddle, based on where their opponents found success.

In their games against Poplar, the scores were 21-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-19 and 11-15.

The team was led by Erickson who had four kills and two blocks. Strommen and Wasson each had seven digs. Soper, Erickson, and Wasson each had five aces. Soper had four assists.

The team had a total of 31 digs, 19 aces, 15 kills, seven assists, and five blocks.

In future games, the team hopes to fire up earlier.

"The first thing we need to do is come together as a team," Erickson said. "We need a good pep rally, we need to talk, we need to get each other up; we can't get down as soon as we make one mistake. We have to stay up and we can't let anything get us down. We need to stay up, stay positive and keep communicating."

The team will face Nashua/Opheim in a battle of junior varsity teams on Thursday, September 20, in Hinsdale. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. They will then face Wolf Point in Wolf Point on Friday, September 21, with games starting at 5 p.m. The Mavericks will face Glasgow on Monday, September 24, in Glasgow starting at 5 p.m.