FORT MADISON - Melissa Freesmeier actually gets a couple of days of practice time with the Holy Trinity volleyball team.
The top-ranked (Class 1A) Crusaders have been a little busy since the last time they practiced. And after sweeping the HTC Classic on Monday night at Shottenkirk Gym, Freesmeier knows she gets some time to work with her team.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of games under our belt,” Freesmeier said after the 21-18, 21-6 win over Mediapolis in the championship match. “I think there for a while we were trying to find out who we are, what we had with the new chemistry on the floor. And we’re coming along.”
Holy Trinity (21-2) went 5-1 in the Lisbon Tournament on Saturday, then won four matches on Monday night, defeating Keokuk, Fort Madison and Danville in pool play before beating the Bullettes for the third time in six days.
“We were really successful in the tournament on Saturday, and that’s kind of a new thing for us, being successful in these Saturday tournaments,” said senior middle hitter Presley Myers, who had 19 kills and a team-high nine blocks on Monday. “But this is definitely building our team a lot.”
October, and the postseason that goes with it, is looming, so the Crusaders don’t mind what they’re facing in this week. They get three matches in Thursday’s pool play in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference tournament, and then likely a couple of more matches in Saturday’s final rounds.
It’s a good test, Myers said, for what they’ll see in the postseason.
“We’re playing five games, six games in a row,” she said. “That builds up our stamina. So I think this week is going to be really beneficial.”
“We’ve played hard against some of the best competition,” Freesmeier said. “We played great. So I think that helped us out. I think our blocking has gotten better. Our setters are moving the ball. We're not missing the serve. We're just doing the little things. We still have a few things, maybe a few more errors here and there, but not as many as we were having. So we're staying aggressive and doing the little things.”
Fort Madison took fourth place in the tournament. The Bloodhounds went 2-1 in pool play, defeating Keokuk and Danville before losing to Holy Trinity, then lost 21-14, 19-21, 15-6 to Wapello in the third-place match.
“Hopefully we built some confidence for tomorrow night,” said Fort Madison coach Kelly Knustrom, whose team plays host to Keokuk in Southeast Conference play on Tuesday. “They did a lot of good things tonight. I’m really proud of them.”
What Knustrom would like to see out of the Bloodhounds is more confidence in their play, a subject she has talked about before this season.
“We talk about building confidence, and I’m seeing it at times,” she said. “They are a very resilient group. I think it’s just a lack of belief sometimes. But I believe in them 100 percent. Whatever they want to do, I know they can go and do it. They just have to believe that.”
Central Lee went 1-2 on the night losing to Mediapolis 12-21, 15-21, Wapello 19-21, 19-21, and won over Columbus 21-13, 21-12.
HOLY TRINITY STATISTICS
Kills - Adalyn Kruse 33, Presley Myers 19, Olivia Bendlage 9, Elizabeth Griffin 7, Makayla Simpson 5, Emma Mohrfeld 4, Calli Kruse 1.
Assists - C.Kruse 44, Griffin 31, A.Kruse 2, Alivia Holmes 2, Bendlage 2.
Serving - Myers 39-40 (7 aces), Bendlage 32-32 (2), C.Kruse 29-31 (2), Griffin 25-27 (3), Holmes 19-20 (3), A.Kruse 12-14 (3).
Digs - A.Kruse 22, Bendlage 22, Griffin 19. C.Kruse 19, Myers 18, Holmes 5, Mohrfeld 1, Simpson 1.
Blocks - Myers 9, Griffin 5, Simpson 4, A.Kruse 3, Bendlage 1, Mohrfeld 1.
CENTRAL LEE STATISTICS
Kills - Jones 13, Cook 12, Lampe 10, Haigh 6, Mullins 3.
Serving aces - Cook 4, Sandoval 1, Mueller 1, Weber 1, Doty 1.
Digs - Mueller 41, Doty 14, Weber 12, Jones 12, Cook 11.
Blocks - Jones 5, Mullins 3, Sandoval 2,
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