Coming off a tough weekend at the Williamsville Tournament, the Macomb High volleyball squad was aiming to return to winning ways Tuesday night at The Hangar against Farmington.
The Farmers entered the match with just one victory. But the visitors proved to be no pushovers before Macomb finally took control on the way to notching a 25-19, 25-16 Prairieland Conference crossover victory.
MHS improved to 6-7 on the season, while Farmington dropped to 1-13.
They had some good, long rallies,” said MHS interim coach Marcy Lantz of Farmington. “I think that their record maybe doesn’t completely reflect on their abilities.”
“We’re working hard on long rallies to get the ball down,” she added. “But we’re getting there. We’re making progress.”
The Bombers never trailed in set one as four service points from Myleigh Lovell off four Farmington errors gave the hosts an early lead.
MHS led by as many as six points before the Farmers made a run, getting as close as 19-18 following a Bomber error on serve-receive.
Following a Macomb timeout, the two teams traded points before the Bombers tallied the final five points in closing out the set.
Macomb built a 12-6 lead in set two, only to see the Farmers rally within one point on four different occasions, the final time being 15-14.
An Anistyn Lovell tip started a decisive 5-0 Bombers run that gave the home team control in the way to closing out the 45-minute match.
“The defense looked a lot better than we had,” said Lantz. “I moved the libero (Myleigh Lovell) to center back and I think that made a pretty big difference.”
Reva Koeppen and Jersee Mills had five kills each, while Dehlia Graham added four for the Bombers.
Mills also had 11 digs and two blocks.
Anistyn Lover recorded 20 set assists and two service aces, while Mills and Graham added two service aces each.
“I like the even distribution of kills which means that (setter) Anistyn (Lovell) is moving the ball around and setting different hitters,” said Lantz.
Stepping into the head coaching role, Lantz noted the situation has been a bit challenging.
“It’s not been an easy situation for any of us,” she said. “For them, for me, for our program. But we’re making the most of it.”
“It is hard to come in, criticizing what has been done and what has happened,” she added. “We had two practices and then we had a tournament.”
“I’ve just been in the state of mind that we’re just going to observe for a lot of things and based on my observation see what we can change to improve.”
In the short time she has worked with the team, she sees areas that the team needs to improve upon.
“Passing is one of the things that we really need to sharpen up on,” said Lantz. “Working on getting those two-point passes so that Anistyn can get our hitters.”
“And working on serve-receive,” she added. “And quite honestly, just them relaxing and having a little fun in the process too.”
Noting that Mills is the lone returning starter from last season, Lantz looks for the team to improve the more it plays.
“Right now we just need to get some varsity experience underneath our belts because we are so young,” she said. “I think getting varsity experience underneath our belts is really going to help us a lot.”
“We’re teaching them the aspects of the game so that they can be even more successful in the future,” said Lantz. “Honing in on those basics and that sort of stuff.”
Farmington won the sophomore match 25-21, 25-19, while the Macomb freshmen posted a 25-22, 22-25, 15-9 win.
MHS stats from the recent Williamsville Tournament were as follows: Williamsville (lost 25-12, 25-22) Koeppen – 3 kills and 3 service aces Mills – 3 kills Anistyn Lovell – 7 set assists Myleigh Lovell – 7 digs Monticello (lost 25-23, 25-17) Koeppen – 6 kills Mills – 8 digs Anistyn Lovell – 6 set assists Myleigh Lovell – 8 digs Monmouth United (won 25-23, 25-15) Mills – 4 service aces Graham – 6 kills Anistyn Lovell – 15 set assists Kate Rector – 6 digs Newark (lost 25-16, 25-26, 15-8) Mills – 4 kills Anistyn Lovell – 6 set assists Myleigh Lovell – 7 digs Evanston (lost 25-22, 19-25, 15-10) Graham – 4 kills and 4 service aces Koeppen – 5 kills Mills – 4 kills Anistyn Lovell – 17 set assists and 8 digs Rector – 8 digs The Bombers return to action next week with matches at Illini West on Sept. 22 and at Lewistown on Sept. 23.
