Results from Maconaquah for Thursday, September 17th
7th VB
7th Grade vs Manchester Jr-Sr High School Win
Middle School vs Manchester Jr-Sr High School
Tonight, the Lady Braves were back home for our third match of the week, taking on Manchester Middle School. We knew going into tonight that Manchester was expected to be one of our tougher opponents this season — and the girls showed up ready to compete.
Final Score:
Set 1: Manchester 25 — Maconaquah 11
Set 2: Manchester 25 — Maconaquah 8
While the scoreboard wasn’t what we wanted tonight, I honestly couldn’t be more proud of the way these girls played.
They were moving their feet, making the right reads, making adjustments, and fighting for every ball. We talked through mistakes during timeouts, and I watched them step back onto the court and immediately try to apply what we had discussed. That’s the kind of growth that doesn’t always show up on the scoreboard.
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The Lady Braves visited Russiaville Thursday to take on the Western Panthers. Maconaquah held control throughout the match and prevailed (25-8, 25-17, 25-12). We dominated the first set before wavering a bit during the second, and ultimately we finished the second set strong. The third set saw the Braves keep their composure and take care of business to win 3-0. Senior and birthday girl Aubrey Kaiser had this to say about our team’s performance, “I think we played as a team tonight and kept our heads up even through the rough patches.” The JV Lady Braves fell to the Panthers in three sets.
Kasey Murry led the Braves’ attack with 11 kills, three blocks, and five digs. Ireland Kile had nine kills, four blocks, nine digs, and three aces on the match. Sara Gil-Bonnin downed three kills, and Lucee Jernagan added two kills. Aubrey Kaiser led the defense with 10 digs and served seven aces. Libero Naomi Cook dug up six balls from the back row. Setter Delaney Betzner dished 24 assists and had four blocks.
In the JV match, Bailei Boggs and Kylee Brooks had four kills each. Bristol Yoder dug up six balls, and Ellie Hostetler added five digs. Ryleigh Marburger had fourteen assists on the match.
The Braves are now 15-5 on the season. We play next at the Tippecanoe Valley Invitational this Saturday. Our first match is at approximately 10 a.m.
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The MHS Boys’ Soccer team hosted Mississinewa on Thursday night, securing their 7th win of the season. The Braves controlled the flow of the game for the full 80 minutes with Mississinewa rarely getting an opportunity for any kind of offensive momentum.
Braves fans had to wait 14 minutes for the first goal of the match, but only about 35 additional seconds for the second goal. The first goal was a freshman-to-freshman connection as Diego Jimenez touched the ball forward to Martin Chaires who snuck it past the goalkeeper. The quick second goal came on a Mississinewa “own goal” after a misplayed ball. The final goal of the match came in the second half after Evan Zeiser drew a foul in the box with an aggressive move. Luis Mendoza knocked in the ensuing penalty kick.
Coach Wilhelm said, “We played a little sloppy today but always happy to get a win. We have a few conference games coming up and we’re going to have to tighten things up to make sure we handle business. Coach Sparks, initially unavailable for comment, added, “I’m happy to hear that we took advantage of one of our PKs.”
“MVP of the Match” – Martin Chaires who continues to add a spark off the bench and is currently the Braves’ leading scorer.
The Braves move to 7-1-1 on the season and head to Rochester for a TRC double header on Saturday with the Lady Braves starting at 10 am followed by the boy’s game.
