BUFFALO – Hosting a triangular filled with exciting, tense-filled moments, the Altoona-Midway
Middle School volleyball team picked up their second victory of the season here Thursday
afternoon.
The Jets claimed a 25-15, 26-24 triumph over Liberty Homeschool Alliance in their second
match of the day. AMMS came very close to earning a sweep of their home triangular, but lost a
narrow 25-19, 21-25, 5-15 decision to Tyro Christian School in their opening match at Milo
Peterson Gymnasium.
AMMS (2-7) is scheduled to participate in a quadrangular match Monday, Sept. 25, at St. Paul.
In addition to the Indians and Jets, also competing will be teams from Parsons-St. Patrick’s and
Thayer.
AMMS vs. Tyro
Altoona-Midway won an exciting first set 25-19 behind 89 percent serving accuracy and 61
percent “to target” accuracy. Those percentages went down just slightly during the second set, a 25-21 Tyro victory; and then fell way off as the Eagles captured the deciding set 15-5.
“We came out really strong and confident. It was a great first set, especially playing in front of
our home crowd,” said AMMS head coach Chary Weilert. “The second set could have gone
either way, but in the deciding set it was pretty obvious the girls were tired. They are under-
conditioned and getting too tired too early in the matches. Obviously, we plan to start focusing
more on conditioning.
Sandra Morales fired a total of six aces during the three-set match and Kaylor Lampe ripped
four aces, all coming in the victorious opening set. Morales also wound up with six attacks and
two kills for the match, while Ashlynn Sicka added a pair of attacks.
“Even though we lost, I had a great time watching the girls play. They set the ball up multiple
times and it was definitely one of their best matches,” Weilert said. “They are starting to realize
how much fun it is to attack the ball after a good pass and set, so I know they’ll continue to work
hard and improve every week.”
AMMS vs. LHA
The Jets bounced back to win their second outing, topping Liberty Homeschool Alliance 25-15,
26-24. But despite the outcome, Weilert thought her squad suffered a slight letdown during the
match.
“Even though we won, this match was a little tougher to watch,” Weilert noted. “I think they
viewed the opponent as not being quite as strong, and as a result we ended up without the
intensity we displayed in the first match. Our girls have the ability to perform better than what the score showed, and we are looking forward to getting back after it Monday night.”
The stat sheet for the victorious Jets showed Morales with five aces, while Destiny Raymond,
Emily Burch and Lampe added one ace apiece. Morales and Raymond paced the way in attacks
at the net with four and two, respectively.
AMMS “B” Results
The AMMS “B” squad just played a single set against LHA, and the Arrows came away with a
25-13 victory. “Our serving killed us – just 21 percent,” Weilert said. “The B-team was disappointed in themselves with so many missed serves, and I took it as a bright spot that they immediately made it goal to focus on serving next week during practice.” Lampe proved to be the exception during the “B” match with three good serves.