#1 Jenna Anderson makes a serve.

Photo by Pratham Mundra

By Norah Schmitz

The University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjacket’s Women’s Volleyball team faced off against the University of Wisconsin-Stout in a non-conference game at Mertz Mortorelli Gym on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.

The battle between the two schools was hard-fought, with exciting plays on both court sides. In the first set, UWS had 17 kills, topping UW-Stout’s 14 kills. UWS won the first set, but unfortunately for the ‘Jackets, they took the loss in four, 25-21, 21-25, 15-25, and 19-25.

Additionally, UWS had only four errors, while UW-Stout had eight. The second, third, and fourth sets were a different story. The UW-Stout Blue Devils lead to kills and the least number of errors. In total, the Blue Devils ended with 49 kills while the Yellowjackets only recorded 39.

Both teams had an equal number of blocks with 12, but the Blue Devils rallied to get a total of seven aces while the Yellowjackets only had two. “I felt like we played very competitive, especially in the first match,” said Brooke Kent (Wrenshall, Minn), a freshman outside hitter for UWS. Kent continued, “We played tough and hard right away, and I think towards the end, we started to get a little tired by going into four sets.”

Kent also said the team did well using the big blocks by getting touches which forced the Blue Devils’ defense to work harder. In total, the UWS Yellowjackets had 92 digs while the Blue Devils topped out at 100 digs.

Freshman defensive specialist Jenna Anderson (Bemidji, Minn) had the most digs of the match with 28, followed by junior outside hitter Alexie Pryd (Maple Grove, Minn) with 24, followed by junior libero Hailey Atwood (Big Lake, Minn) with 12. Sophomore middle hitter Kaylin Plautz (Elk River, Minn), freshman outside hitter Maiana Stark (Germantown, Wis), and Pryd recorded nine kills.

Pryd also had a career-high-tying 24 digs in the four-set loss. UWS had a .241 hitting percentage in the first set with 14 kills, but the Blue Devils made a statement winning the following three sets to claim their fifth consecutive victory in the all-time series against UWS.

“At times, it seemed like we were out of sync with each other on the court. When we flow well as a team, it is tough to stop us,” said Lynne Deadrick, the head coach of the Yellowjackets women’s volleyball team. Deadrick continued, “We saw some collisions, and that is just working on more communication and proper positioning in the read defense between players on the court.”