WDC team moves toward conference championship

The Wadena-Deer Creek volleyball team came away with an important conference win Sept. 20 in Detroit Lakes.

The 3-1 victory over the Lakers all but guaranteed the Lady Wolverines the Mid-State Conference championship.

"This was a huge win for us in the conference and in the past few years, the winner of this game is in the driver's seat for the conference championship," Lady Wolverine coach Sue Volkmann said. "We have two conference games left, but this was a big step towards that [conference] championship."

The Lakers came out ready to play, winning the first game 25-21.

It didn't take long for the Lady Wolverines to wake up after that, winning the next two games by scores 25-19 and 25-12.

"Our team really came together the next two games and took early leads," Volkmann said. "Our defense played very well which gave our offense a chance to set the ball up for kills."

Brigetta Berg once again showed her potent net skills by finishing with 21 kills in the contest.

Game three saw the Lady Wolverines once again take an early lead, only to make some unforced errors to allow the Lakers get back into the game. A few big finishes by the strong front line of WDC finally slammed the door shut on Detroit Lakes, allowing the Lady Wolverines to escape with a 25-23 victory for the match.

Overall, as a team, the Lady Wolverines recorded 38 blocks and forced the Lakers to make swings they didn't want in order to avoid being stuffed. They also had 11 aces from the service line.

Berg had a solid all-around game (14-15 serving with an ace, 21 kills, 6 blocks, 36 digs), Brittany Ohrmundt was consistent (7-8 serving, 13 kills, 3 blocks, 30 digs) while both Lorraine Endres and Courtney Volkmann were very productive on both sides of the net. Endres (16-19 serving with five aces, 4 kills, 12 blocks) and Volkmann (22-24 serving with two aces, 7 blocks, 4 kills, 40 assists, 8 digs) kept the Lakers busy with their heads-up defense. Tina Schloeder contributed four kills, 17 digs and went a perfect 13-for-13 from the service line with two aces. Kelly DeFoe finished with 10 blocks and Steph Perkins had 30 digs to go with her 14-for-15 serving with an ace.

The Lady Wolverines started the successful week on the court with a 3-0 home win over the visiting Pelican Rapids Vikings on Sept. 18.

After winning the first game against the Vikings with ease 25-7, the Lady Wolverines dropped their guard, much to the displeasure of Volkmann.

"We committed a lot of unforced errors to keep the games closer than they should have been," Volkmann said. "We need to keep our focus better throughout a match."

The Vikings doubled their point total from the first game and continued to get stronger as the games went on. Regardless, the Lady Wolverines ended the match with a clean sweep by winning 25-16 and 25-23.

The wealth was spread amongst the Lady Wolverines in this contest as Berg slammed home 16 kills followed by Endres with seven, Ohrmundt with five and DeFoe with three. Volkmann and Schloeder each had two kills with Volkmann adding 31 assists.

Defensively, Ohrmundt led the team with 24 digs with Perkins close behind with 22. Chelsey Lawson added eight digs and went 7-for-8 at the service line with an ace in the victory.

The tall front line of WDC posed problems for the Vikings attacking game as they totaled 27 blocks. DeFoe led that category with 10 blocks followed by Berg with nine and Endres with eight.

Maggie Friedrich came off the bench to contribute on offense, going 4-for-5 at the service line. Ohrmundt had an ace to go with her 24-for-25 serving as the Lady Wolverines remained undefeated in regular season play.

Unofficially, the Lady Wolverines record stands at 10-1 if you were to count the pool play of the tournaments. According to Volkmann, they are not allowed to count tournament play but at this time she feels comfortable enough to record them.

"We are either 10-1 counting pool games in a tournament, which we were told not to do, or 7-0 in regular season games," she said. "We will be 10-1 until what counts is official is decided."

The Lady Wolverines have a busy week on the court this week. They traveled to Breckenridge Monday and swept the Cowgirls 3-0 by scores of 25-14, 25-15 and 25-23. They hosted New York Mills Tuesday, again winning in three games by scores of 25-23, 25-11 and 25-14. Complete results of these two matches will be in next week's PJ.

The Lady Wolverines travel to Pine River-Backus today (Thursday) in a Mid-State Conference match with the Tigers. They'll close out the week at the Pierz Tournament on Saturday.

WDC at Detroit Lakes on Sept. 20

Lady Wolverines 3, Lakers 1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-12, 25-23)

WDC Statistics

Kills-Brigetta Berg 21, Brittany Ohrmundt 13, Courtney Volkmann 4, Lorraine Endres 4, Tina Schloeder 4

Defensive Digs-Berg 36, Ohrmundt 30, Steph Perkins 30, Schloeder 17, Volkmann 8

Serving-Schloeder 13 for 13 with 2 aces; Berg-14 for 15 with an ace; Ohrmundt 7 for 8; Perkins 14 for 15 with an ace; Volkmann 22 for 24 with 2 aces; Endres-16 for 19 with 5 aces

Blocks-Volkmann 7, Endres 12, Berg 6, Ohrmundt 3, Kelly DeFoe 10

Setting Assists-Volkmann 40

Pelican Rapids at WDC on Sept. 18

Lady Wolverines 3, Vikings 0 (25-7, 25-16, 25-23)

WDC Statistics

Kills-Berg 16, Endres 7, Ohrmundt 5, DeFoe 3, Schloeder 2, Volkmann 2

Defensive Digs-Ohrmundt 24, Perkins 22, Tina Schloeder 12, Berg 11, Chelsey Lawson 8, Volkmann 7

Serving-Volkmann 8 for 8; Endres-12 for 13 with three aces; Lawson 7 for 8 with an ace; Maggie Friedrich 4 for 5; Ohrmundt 24 for 25 with an ace

Blocks-Berg 9, Endres 8, DeFoe 10

Setting Assists-Volkmann 31

WDC (10-1 Overall) Next: at Pine River-Backus 7:30 p.m. today (Thursday); at Pierz Tournament 9 a.m. Saturday.