Volleyball: An up and a down

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Early this season, Rosemount volleyball coach Kristin Helgeson felt like her team was playing to the level of the competition.

The Irish would get up for quality teams, but their level of play would drop against lesser competition.

When the Irish lost two matches during the past week, it might have seemed like more of the same.

But Helgeson felt it was something different this time around.

The coach believes her team has been playing better of late, and that was the case as it matched up with No. 4-ranked Eastview.

But, against Apple Valley — the first time in three matches the Irish weren’t facing a top-10 opponent — Rosemount had a disappointing effort.

But this wasn’t an issue of playing to the opponent’s level.

“It was a big-time surprise,” Helgeson said of the 3-0 loss to Apple Valley. “It was an off night. I just really think we won’t play like that again. I don’t think we can play that bad again.”

The past week offered two 3-0 losses, but each loss was tough for a different reason.

The 25-23, 25-17, 25-21 loss to Eastview was tough because Helgeson felt her team played well against one of the better teams in the state.

The 25-17, 25-17, 25-9 loss to Apple Valley was tough because the coach just felt like her team didn’t play well.

“We had been playing so much better, then last night we took ourselves out of the game, physically and mentally,” Helgeson said of the Apple Valley match. “We were just bad. It doesn’t matter who we would have played, we would have lost.”

It was a very different reaction against Eastview.

“We played really well against Eastview,” Helgeson said. “They were just a good team. I thought it was a really competitive match.”

Paige Peterson had nine kills, 14 digs and three blocks against the Lightning.

Hana Dye added five kills and six blocks.

Jordan Hinkle had 10 digs, two service aces and 19 serve receptions.

Hannah Buecksler finished with 19 assists and six digs.

“We played intense,” Helgeson said. “We eliminated our errors. We were playing scrappy, playing together. We stayed focused. All three games were tough. We didn’t quit. We were in every game.”

It was a different story against Apple Valley.

Paige Carter led the team with six kills.

Dye had three kills, but didn’t have any hitting errors. She also had two digs and a block.

“It was so uncharacteristic,” Helgeson said. “We really didn’t serve receive or pass very well. We didn’t give our hitters a chance to run the offense. Our hitters couldn’t get anything going.”

Now Helgeson is just looking to turn the corner as the end of the season nears.

Rosemount hosted Burnsville — another team receiving top-10 votes — on Thursday.

Results were not available as the Town Pages went to press. Go online to www.rosemounttownpages.com for scores.

Next week, the Irish travel to Farmington and Lakeville South for matches. They play next Friday and Saturday in a tournament at Burnsville.

“We have to keep preparing,” Helgeson said. “We have to bounce back. I think we will. I don’t think we can play any worse. We have another test this week. That is high school. You have to be ready to go again.”

Tags: sports, volleyball