Winning is indeed nice, but Macomb High volleyball coach Hillary Humes knows there’s more to it.
While the Bombers defeated visiting South Fulton 25-14, 27-25 Wednesday evening at MHS, Humes realizes the team continues to be a work in progress.
It was the Prairieland Conference South Division opener for both teams. MHS improved to 4-3 overall, while South Fulton slipped to 2-1.
“Their big goal is they they really want to win the regional this year,” said Humes. “We haven’t won it the past two years.”
“But if you are going to win a regional in (Class) 2A and especially the route we always get, good won’t be good enough.”
“We have to get to a place where we demand greatness from ourselves,” she added.
“I think they just settle into a comfortable place,” said Humes. “They were comfortable that they were going to win (this match). They did x, y and z.”
“But we have to push ourselves to a place where good isn’t good enough for us. You’ve got to strive to be great every point, every set, every match.”
“‘I don’t want to grouch about our wins. I’m glad you won,’” Humes told the team after the victory. “‘But we want to strive for better.’” The Bombers never trailed in the opening set, and it was tied just once, at 5-5.
Set two saw a three-point service run by Christin Posey give South Fulton its first lead of the night at 6-5.
But a Reva Koeppen kill, followed by a three-point service run by Myleigh Lovell gave the hosts a 9-6 advantage.
The Rebels trailed 17-10 after a Clarissa Thompson ace, but South Fulton chipped away, fighting off four match points to pull even at 24-24.
At 25-25, a South Fulton service error gave the Bombers the lead before a dump for kill by setter Anistyn Lovell closed out the 45-minute match.
“We’re going to make errors and a lot of that is our inexperience,” said Humes. “We’re going to be up and down until we can get a groove.”
“It’s just finding consistency,” she added. “It felt like set two was a lot of back-and-forth,” said Humes. “It’s just hard to build momentum that way. We need that momentum to allow us to surge us forward.”
Stats for MHS included the following: Jersee Mills – 9 kills and 3 digs Koeppen – 8 kills Thompson – 3 kills, 6 digs, 2 services aces and 2 blocks Dehlia Graham – 3 kills and 2 blocks Ashtyn Shoopman – 2 kills, 2 blocks Anistyn Lovell – 21 assists, 2 kills and 7 digs Kate Rector – 4 digs Myleigh Lovell – 6 digs “We’re a little quieter (on the court) this year,” said Humes. “Last year we had a lot of talkers out there. And in past years they’ve been very loud.”
“We’re looking to find someone to step into that role,” she added. “Kate Rector does a really good job at it. I hear her a lot, talking through the game. Little things.”
“You just need someone out there, that one person that’s going to take the reins and say ‘Hey, we’re going to do this. We need to do this,’” Humes said. “I think right now we’re all just waiting to see if somebody else is going to do it.”
“It was an OK win, but we want to have great,” she added. “It’s just learning that.”
The Bomber JV evened its season record at 1-1, rallying for a 17-25, 25-23, 25-19 victory.
The JV squad will head to the Monmouth United tournament Saturday.
Both teams will then return to action Sept. 10 when they host Brown County.
