Lake Holcombe is still trying to gain traction

By Ginna Young

With multiple matches over the week, the Lake Holcombe volleyball program faced off with their foes on the road in all but one match.

Sept. 3 vs. New Auburn (L 0-3)

In their only home game, the Chieftains saw New Auburn come to call, but couldn’t sway the match in their favor, dropping the sets, 25-11, 25-12 and 25-10.

Senior Chloe Lee and senior Alexia Hoffner led with 7 digs each, while sophomore Chloe Irwin had 7 kills and freshman Breanna Frear ended with 5. Lee also came away with 9 assists.

“We are still working to find the right line-up for this team and develop team cohesiveness,” said coach Beth Meddaugh. “We have really talented players who are working hard, but we struggled to gain traction against New Auburn.”

Sept. 5 vs. Winter (L 0-3)

A couple nights later, the Chieftains were on the road to Winter, but the first set went to the Warriors, 25-8. Lake Holcombe rebounded to make the next two sets closer, 25-16 and 29-27, but Winter still took the win.

“We had a slow start again tonight against Winter, but the team established a better rhythm in the third set,” said Meddaugh. “They fought hard and kept pace with a really good team in that set. Now, we just need to find that rhythm from the first serve and maintain it throughout our matches.”

Lee again led on kills, with 11, followed by freshman Jayna Erickson, with 8. Irwin had 5 kills, while Lee finished with 11 assists.

Sept. 7 vs. Elmwood-Plum City (L 0-2)

The Chieftains were then off to Elmwood, for a weekend tournament, facing off first with the host team, dropping the match in two sets.

Sept. 7 vs. Ellsworth (L 0-2)

Next up was Ellsworth, who also claimed a 2-0 victory.

Sept. 7 vs. Pepin-Alma (L 0-2)

Lake Holcombe then faced off with Pepin-Alma, also dropping those sets.

Sept. 7 vs. Luck (L 0-2)

Finally, the Chieftains met Luck, but couldn’t come up with a win and watched the sets go to their opponents, 2-0.

“The team had a slow start with the early morning game time, but made some really amazing plays throughout the day,” said Meddaugh. “Passing was good all day and allowed us to work on setting up our offense. Serving was also a bright spot for the day, as there were very few errors and the team served at 90 percent for most of the day.”