Malta Volleyball

The Malta M-ettes were able to pull off a 3-1 victory over Shelby in their home opener last Friday, September 2, in Malta, but the team struggled in the Chinook Invitational on Saturday, September 3.

Malta was also scheduled to face Poplar on Tuesday, September 6, in Poplar. Information on that game will be available in the September 14 issue of the PCN.

This week, Malta will hit the road for a pair of games. The M-ettes are scheduled to face the Glasgow Scotties in Glasgow on Friday, September 9, at 4:30 P.M. The M-ettes will also travel to Whitewater on Tuesday, September 13, to face the North Country Mavericks at 5 P.M.

The scores for the win over Shelby were 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, and 25-18.

Allison Kunze led Malta with 14 kills and four aces. Freshman Denvyr Tuss had nine kills and senior Tia Siewing had seven kills.

The PCN caught up with captains Tia Siewing and Giona Lamb after the win. Lamb was asked what the key to their win was.

"I think that it was just hard effort from everyone, communicating and having fun," Lamb said.

Siewing was asked how it felt to start the year at home, with a win.

"Pretty good, for our last, first home game," Siewing said. "We took them to four but it was worth it in the end."

With this year's team having a large senior class, Lamb, a junior, was asked what it was like having so many experienced athletes.

"I think that there is a lot of pressure because they know what they are doing," Lamb said. "I'm a junior, so it's kind of hard to step up with those girls."

Siewing was asked what it was like playing with Tuss, the varsity team's lone freshman.

"I think as a freshman, she has stepped up and really held her own, and is going to get even better as we go through the season," Siewing said.

M-ette Head Coach Mary Grace Kalal was asked how it felt to coach in the Malta High School Gymnasium, a place where she had played many games as a student athlete.

"There were a lot of emotions," Coach Kalal said. "I was nervous but also excited. Once we got the game going though I felt better and the nerves cooled a bit."

Though Malta split sets with Chinook in their first pool play game at the Chinook Invitational last Saturday, the team struggled to win sets against Cut Bank and Valier. They lost the opening round of the Tournament 1-2 to Highwood.

The scores of their pool play game against Chinook were 20-25 and 12-8. Cut Bank won both games over Malta 19-25 and 11-18. Malta won their first game against Valier 25-21 but lost the second one 15-11.

The scores in the tournament game were 25-20, 24-25, and 3-6.

Coach Kalal was asked how the team could improve in future games after the weekend was over.

"The biggest thing I saw was that we were all, including myself, worn out from Friday night," she said. "The girls gave all they had Friday night, which I'm so proud of them for. But one thing I feel we can work on within that is our endurance."

Coach Kalal said that she plans on throwing more fundamental conditioning drills into their practices, so that the team can get used to playing tired, while also building stamina.

"Volleyball is a mental game so when they're mentally tired it becomes a struggle in other areas to complete those plays that would regularly be easy," Coach Kalal said.