Crusaders roll over 7-1 Van Buren

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG PCC EDITOR

KEOSAUQUA - The Holy Trinity Catholic girls volleyball team downed Van Buren on the road Thursday night to highlight Southeast Iowa Superconference action.

The 2nd-ranked Lady Crusaders (2-0) got some stellar serving from multiple players led by seniors Maya Rashid, who went 19-20 behind the line with two aces and Sam Hoenig, who was 17 of 17 starting the point. Junior Elysa Pothitakis was 15 of 16 with two aces as well. Pothitakis is 34 of 36 on the year with five aces. Taylor Boeding had a couple aces on 7-7 serving.

Van Buren was 7-1 coming into the game with their only loss a 0-2 setback at Wapello on August 21.

'We only missed three serves on the night and that helped keep Van Buren out of their system," said Head Coach Melissa Freesmeier.

"It was a fun game. We got to play some really long rallies. The scores may be a little lopsided, but Van Buren can put up a big block and they can dig so, it was fun for our kids to be able to go in and compete and know we can win against some really good teams."

Junior Emily Box, who leads the SEISC south in kills per set at 7.33 once again dominated at the net for the Crusaders. She had 21 kills on the night and leads the conference in kill efficiency at 52%. Senior Madison Mohrfeld had six kills followed by junior Taylor Boeding with five, Eryn Anderson with four, Hoenig had two and Rashid had one.

"Box had another big night for us and Maya did a great job distributing the ball to our hitters, but our stats were pretty evenly rounded after that and that's what we need and what we want," Freesmeier said.

Defensively, Pothitakis led the ladies in blue with 26 digs, Box had 21, Hoenig had 14, Rashid 11, Boeding had eight and Anderson had seven. Box also had four blocks on the night and Rashid had three.

The Crusaders host their first home match of the season Tuesday against WACO.