Lady Wolfpack Sweeps Home Triangular Tuesday Night

The Lady Wolfpack swept their own triangular Tuesday with wins over Riverside and Neligh-Oakdale.

EPPJ cruised past Riverside in straight sets, 25-12 and 25-11, in the first game of the night. Click here for EPPJ stats. 

In the second matchup, Riverside topped Neligh-Oakdale 25-19 in set one. The Lady Warriors came out fighting and claimed the second set, 25-21. The Chargers took the third set, 25-16. Click here for N-O stats.

"It's been a tough couple weeks for these girls, mentally and physically, but they are showing no signs of giving up on themselves," Coach Hannah Hoefer said. "They played scrappy and smart last night against both teams. We did some moving around positions vs Riverside, trying to create the chemistry we had vs O'Neill last Saturday and it worked in set two. The girls played aggressively and had some fire, but the final set we just let some errors on our side take control and could never quite bounce back."

In the final match of the night, the Lady Wolfpack rolled to a first-set win over Neligh-Oakdale, 25-12. The second set was more of a battle, as the Lady Warriors tried to hold off EPPJ and force a third set. The Lady Wolfpack rallied back to win, 25-23, with hitter Liz Selting pounding a kill for the match point. Click here for EPPJ stats, and here for Neligh-Oakdale stats.

"I give Elgin credit for being a very scrappy team," Hoefer said. "We knew going in we would have to play smart and play back row defense and at the net well. Our focuses were to eliminate missed serves, be strong defensively and place the ball in the holes of their defense."

"We did very well in set two with all of our goals not missing any serves, and our middle blockers got several touches at the net, which helped slow the ball down for our back row players to be able to keep it in play," the coach said. "I think our offense can be predictable, hitting and tipping in the same areas, but the girls did a good job of seeing their court and started figuring it out that sending an easy ball wasn't going to work on a team like Elgin. We had to keep it aggressive and continue to change where and how we were sending it!" 

EPPJ, now 20-3 on the season, will host 4-16 Niobrara/Verdigre on Thursday night.

Neligh-Oakdale will have one week off before they travel to a triangular, hosted by Spalding Academy on Tuesday, October 21.

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