ST. PAUL – After coming very close to securing a victory in their previous outing, the
Altoona-Midway Middle School volleyball team had high hopes of attaining that elusive
goal here Monday afternoon.
But unfortunately, that celebration will have to wait, as the AMMS Lady Jets dropped all
three of their matches in a middle school quadrangular hosted by the St. Paul Indians.
St. Patrick’s Catholic School of Parsons took a 25-5, 25-3 triumph over the Lady Jets; the
Thayer Flyers notched a 25-15, 25-7 victory, and the host St. Paul squad topped AMMS
25-2, 25-10 to close out the day.
“Today’s matches did not turn out the way we were hoping, especially since we had come
so close last week (a narrow three-set loss to Liberty Homeschool Alliance), when we
played with a lot of confidence,” said AMMS head coach Tianne Wambsganss.
“We played some tough teams today, and the girls always give good effort, but ultimately
we did not look prepared,” Wambsganss noted. “Today the girls really lacked confidence
in themselves and almost looked scared on the court.”
Destiny Raymond led the Lady Jets with 10 good serves, including five aces, and 20
successful service returns. Emily Burch accounted for 9 good serves and 9 service returns,
while Allie Lockhart was second to Raymond in positive service returns with 15.
Kenzie Nalley recorded five good serves and seven service returns, while Kaylor Lampe
finished with five and two, respectively, and also had an ace. Klaire Barlow also chipped
in three serves and a return for AMMS.
“I think it makes it difficult having a four-day week that leads into a game day on Monday
because some of the girls probably don’t handle a volleyball on their days off from
practice,” Wambsganss said. “It is going to take some hard work and dedication as we
continue to look for our first win of the season – but I’m confident these girls will put in
that work.”
Altoona-Midway, 0-9 on the season, will return home for its next matches on Monday,
Sept. 30. The Lady Jets will host Edna and Oswego in a triangular event, beginning at 5
p.m. at Milo Peterson Gymnasium.