LA GRANGE — The Weimar High School volleyball team defeated La Grange High School in three sets for both teams' first match of the year August 13 at Leopards Gym by a final score of 25-17, 2624, 25-18. La Grange made it close in the second set, but the Lady Wildcats ultimately controlled this game with their attackers on the outside and ability to keep the ball off the floor on defense. "Our girls came out hungry,"
said Weimar head volleyball coach Amanda Machicek. "They have goals set for the season and tonight showed that they put a lot of work in. They want to work to win and we want to achieve big things for this season."
Weimar senior outside hitter Chandley Tolbert was a force on the offensive end, powering up and putting the ball down throughout
the entire contest. "As a senior, it gives me even more pressure," Tol - bert said. "To try to keep everyone accountable as well as myself. I feel more like I'm allowed to lead. I think it went really well. We had a lot of returners this year, so I feel like we already had a good team connection. I really think this is a good start to our year and I see good things for us."
La Grange looks to bounce back
and figure some things out as it was only the first game of the sea son and they have plenty of time to make adjustments.
"I think it's a combination of things," said La Grange head vol leyball coach Leslie Coltrain on what they needed to fix during the game. "We didn't have Kylie (Trlicek) for any of our scrimmag- es. Getting setter-hitter connections
going with Kylie and our hitters. I think we're young in a lot of spots, so they’re gonna have to have a real- ly fast learning curve and catch up."
After a back and forth start to the game, La Grange jumped out to a 8-3 lead with four points in a row on two kills and a couple mistakes from Weimar. The Lady Wildcats bounced back with four consecutive points of their own, then eventual ly tied it at 13 on a ball in the net from La Grange. A block from Tol bert and another point for Weimar forced the Lady Leopards to call timeout before Weimar went on an- other run and made it 20-13, which included a block from Taylor Smith.
La Grange fought back with
three points in a row, but Weimar finished the job with a ball in the net and ball out of bounds from La Grange for the last two points and a 25-17 set win.
The second set was much closer as a block from Lady Leopard outside hitter Carley Ulrich tied it at five. Weimar went on to score 10-straight points, then after a ball
in the net from La Grange made it 20-13 in favor of Weimar, La Grange climbed all the way back and put it at 20-18. Another kill from Ulrich made the scoreboard read 22-21, which was followed by the two teams trading points until Weimar closed it out with a kill and a ball out of bounds from the Lady Leopards at 26-24.
The Lady Wildcats took control of the third set early at 10-4 that in -
cluded an ace, a tip ball, and ball out of bounds from La Grange. An ace
from La Grange’s Kylie Trlicek put it at 14-10, then Weimar took com mand back of the set and surged to a 20-12 lead on a bunch of kills. One of the kills was from Tolbert that forced La Grange to call a timeout.
A couple more errors from La Grange and a few tip balls with some kills mixed in from Weimar won the Lady Wildcats the set and match at 25-18.
