By Libby Soucek
Saturday, September 14, the Mustangs started their early morning of the day against Hi-Line. The first and second set were close but both ended in a Mustang victory with the scores of 25-20 and 25-17. Senior Macy Parr led the way offensively, racking up 6 kills, with junior MaKenna Karr adding 5 of her own. The team also tallied 7 aces for the game, which allowed them to rattle Hi-Line. After the win, they went on to play Loomis. The sets were close at some points but overall Loomis won with scores of 14-25 and 20-25. Karr and senior McKenna Pankoke found success at the net with 7 and 5 kills, respectively. However, Loomis’s attackers only had 9 hitting errors to the Mustangs’ 18. Junior libero Sophie Schmidt picked up 17 digs for the match. From there, they went head-to-head with Wallace in hopes of earning themselves third place in the tournament. They were able to grab hold of the win with the final scores of 25-23 and 25-17. This win secured their spot in third place. The Mustang’s middle blockers senior Katy Soucek and Karr led the team with 7 and 4 kills, respectively. Silver Lake also rallied for 9 aces and held Wallace to only 1 ace. Head Coach Shelby Rupprecht commented, “I thought the girls did a great job of battling when they were down. They never gave up, when they could’ve at any moment. We need to work on keeping our energy high and always playing at a high level. We had a long week and it showed on Saturday, but we need to work to play at our level, not the level of our opponent. I’m proud of how they finished their week.” The team finished off the day with 52 kills in total. Soucek and Karr were the lead hitters, each contributing 16 kills. Karr also led the team in blocks, securing 4 for herself. Sophie Schmidt led the team in digs with a total of 37. Rupprecht said, “I thought we responded well against Wallace after a tough loss to Loomis. It’s encouraging to see them battle, even when they’re in a tough spot.” The Mustang’s next game will take place Tuesday, September 17, versus Red Cloud on their home court.