March 28, 2024

PCM volleyball goes the distance, loses to Perry

Mustangs can’t find win column at Roland-Story tournament

PERRY — PCM’s volleyball team handled Perry fairly easily in two of the five sets they played on Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the Bluejays edged their visitors in the other three sets and took the match 18-25, 25-23, 12-25, 30-28, 16-14 during a Heart of Iowa Conference matchup.

“This was a tough loss. I really felt our girls outplayed Perry in many areas of the game, but as the points fell, we came up just short,” PCM head volleyball coach Sarah De Vries said.

PCM held a 47-28 edge in kills and a 13-10 advantage in aces, but Perry collected 96 digs to PCM’s 77.

“They are a very scrappy team and were able to scramble and send a free ball over a lot, which we took and set up an attack,” De Vries said. “When you play aggressively like that, you’re going to have errors.”

Riley Johannes had a double-double to lead the Mustangs (6-17 overall, 1-3 in the HOIC). She finished with 13 kills, 11 digs and two aces.

Addison Steenhoek collected eight kills, 12 digs and three aces, Sidney Shaver added 27 assists and six digs and Elle Davis put down nine kills and chipped in three blocks.

Joslin Briles registered eight kills, three assists, two digs and two aces, Eliana Buswell tallied 10 assists and five digs and RaeAnn Duinink collected 13 digs and two aces.

Reese Palm had five kills, six digs, two blocks and two aces, Ella Schendel registered 10 digs, Skylar Burns chipped in seven digs and two aces and Tori Lindsay put down three kills and had four digs.

“I never tell the girls to play it safe. I always want them to push to improve and attack the ball,” De Vries said. “They have improved so much, but we will continue to work on reducing hitting errors.”

The Mustangs missed 14 serves, finishing 102-of-116. Duinink served 12-of-12 and Briles was 17-of-18.

Ashley Cerna led Perry (6-18, 2-2) with six kills and 29 digs.

Mustangs can’t find win column at R-S tournament

STORY CITY — PCM couldn’t find the win column at the Norsemen Invitational on Monday.

The Mustangs lost in three sets to Marshalltown and were defeated in straight sets by host Roland-Story, Class 2A No. 12 Carroll Kuemper and South Hardin.

“We got off to a slow start and struggled to get the ball set up for an attack against Roland-Story,” De Vries said.

In the 21-15, 21-11 loss to Roland-Story, Duinink finished with seven digs, Burns and Schendel each had three digs and Buswell tallied two digs.

The Mustangs collected just three kills as a team and were 20-of-24 in serves with three aces.

PCM jumped out to an early lead against the Bobcats, but Marshalltown rallied for a 14-21, 21-18, 15-7 victory.

Johannes led the Mustangs with five kills and six digs, Steenhoek added two kills, four digs and three aces and Shaver dished out eight assists and had three digs.

Duinink had a team-best 11 digs, Briles finished with three kills and two digs, Burns registered five digs, Davis added two digs and Buswell chipped in two assists.

PCM was 30-of-38 in serves with five aces.

“We started off very strong in this match but couldn’t hold on to the lead,” De Vries said.

In the 21-10, 21-19 loss to state-ranked Carroll Kuemper, Shaver led the way with five assists and five digs. Johannes added three kills and four digs, Duinink tallied 10 digs and Steenhoek chipped in three digs and five aces.

Burns finished with five digs, Buswell dished out three assists, Schendel registered three digs and Davis, Palm and Briles each put down two kills.

The Mustangs were 27-of-28 in serves with six aces.

“We played very well against Kuemper and were able to run our offense, but they are a very strong team and we couldn’t get ahead,” De Vries said.

South Hardin defeated PCM 21-6, 21-6. Duinink led the way with six digs, Buswell had two assists and two digs and Davis put down two kills.

Johannes and Burns each had three digs, Shaver delivered three assists and Steenhoek added two digs. PCM was 10-of-13 in serves with one ace.

“This was our last match of the night and I could tell the girls were tired and just not moving their feet,” De Vries said. “We really struggled with serve receive and therefore couldn’t run our offense.”