Mavericks win final regular season home match
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TRIMONT - Martin County West volleyball head coach Kari Brolsma used just one timeout during Monday night's match against Blue Earth Area. It happened in the first set when the visiting Buccaneers took an initial 15-12 lead, thanks to front-row hitters Caitlin Eitzmann and Brynlee Amundson.
The 60-second break was all Brolsma's Mavericks needed to get into rhythm, outscoring Blue Earth Area by 36 points en route to their 25-20, 25-10, 25-13 victory. Martin County West moves to 20-2 on the season. They have dropped just four sets during that stretch.
"It's senior night, so I was trying to get people in, and we switched things up a bit. Anytime you do that in volleyball, it can go either way, even with us playing great [initially]," Brolsma said. "I'm just proud of the girls. They play so hard for each other, and they just love the game."
"In that second set, we just went back to normal while trying to sub kids in. We tried to get everybody in tonight; being it senior night, I wanted the chance to get them on the floor for their last regular season game here ever."
Martin County West's slow start stemmed from Blue Earth Area's ability to slow down the Mavericks’ powerful hitters. Eitzmann set the tone by blocking Maddie Carlson to pick up the Buccaneers’ first point in set one.
The challenge at the net initially stalled Martin County West's offensive flow. Even if Blue Earth Area didn't land a point from a block, a handful of deflections prevented Maverick spikes from hitting as expected.
"I just kept telling Maddie [Carlson] to go down the line. She did a really good job of hitting off their hands, off the block and out of bounds," Brolsma said. "It was just attacking. That's what we need to do when switching it up a bit. Always attack going up and not making it easy for them to send it back over."
Everything changed after Vivian Olson connected with an overhand kill from the right side. Olson's hit sparked six straight Martin County West points. Giana Chase's spike was sandwiched between two pinpoint Carlson hits to give the Mavericks an 18-16 advantage.
Chase started the final scoring run after securing a block and an ace to break the 19-19 deadlock. Two more powerful spikes from Brynlee Haukoos and Bailey Larson locked up the opening set.
Consecutive Haukoos spikes sparked Martin County West to break open set two. Kills from Chase and Carlson were capped by a perfect service point from Haukoos to give an early 18-9 lead.
An ensuing spike from Eitzmann couldn't stop the bleeding. The Mavericks followed by notching another rally of seven straight points to secure the monumental match lead. Carlson continued collecting kills from the left side while Stella Rohman finished the set with a middle spike.
10 straight Martin County West points took the air from Blue Earth Area's comeback effort to start set three. Things started with three straight Jaylee Hanson points, one softer tap over followed by consecutive powerful hits.
Carlson continued the run with three more kills before Hanson stamped her team's 14-2 lead with yet another spike. Blue Earth Area scored six points to inch closer before one last ace from Chase ended things for good.
Ida Rohman notched 29 of the team’s 31 set assists. Carlson had 12 kills while Hanson and Haukoos notched seven and six, respectively. Haukoos and Rowan Faber each had eight digs. Hanson and Chase each had two blocks.
Martin County West closes the regular season on Tuesday with a road match versus Sleepy Eye. The contest is set for 7:00 p.m.