Improved serving helps Southwest Valley take second

CORNING – After a couple discouraging losses earlier in the week, the Southwest Valley volleyball team rallied to finish second in their tournament Saturday. 

Southwest Valley beat CAM (21-8, 21-12), Exira/EHK (21-7, 20-22, 15-4) and Essex (22-20, 21-19) to advance to the championship match where they were met by Nodaway Valley. 

The two teams were familiar with each other as Nodaway Valley beat Southwest Valley 3-1 Tuesday in a match played in Villisca. 

Nodaway Valley won again Saturday, beating Southwest Valley in straight sets, 21-12 and 21-17. 

Southwest Valley coach Lindsay Wetzel was impressed with her team’s performance Saturday. 

“I am proud of the girls for playing hard all day, coming away first place in our pool and ultimately placing second in our home tournament,” she said. “Our serving for the entire day was much improved and we were playing scrappy and not giving up on any balls.”

After losing to Stanton Monday in three sets, Wetzel had specifically mentioned serving as an area the Timberwolves needed to improve. 

“Until we can serve in the 90-95 percent range, we aren’t going to win many matches,” she said. “We were digging well and getting a nice block up, but then we would shoot ourselves in the foot by missing serves.” 

In their four matches at Saturday’s tournament, the Timberwolves met Wetzel’s serving expectation with a 93 percent success ratio. 

Taylor Damewood led the team with 11 aces, serving at a 97 percent clip. Damewood also led the team with 48 assists while adding nine digs on defense. 

Danica Sunderman led the team with 28 kills and six blocks, adding eigh digs and seven aces as well. Morgan Shuey also had a big match with nine aces, nine kills and nine digs.