With two conference wins on their resume and some confidence to go with them, the Cardinals volleyball squad faced a tough challenge at home last Tuesday — the Big Foot Chiefs and their 5-0 conference record.
The place was jumping as the Brodhead band swung through brassy versions of “Louie Louie,” “Sweet Caroline,” and Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny.” The stage was set for some high energy volleyball. The teams did not disappoint as the games were hard fought, but the Cardinals could not overcome Big Foot’s outside hitters and dropped the match in three consecutive games.
Senior Amanda Johnson kept Brodhead close in the early going. She contributed two spikes, the first a beauty that found the line and made the score 3-3. Later with Big Foot leading 7-4, Johnson connected with another kill to cut the lead to 7-5.
The Cardinals found themselves down 12-8 but they hung tough. Junior Mariah Mohns set Lewis perfectly and Lewis placed a soft winner to cut the lead to 12-9. A Lewis spike then made it 12-10. Trailing 13-10, the Cardinals mounted a comeback. Another Lewis kill and consecutive blocks helped Brodhead even the score at 13. Unfortunately, the Cardinals could not capitalize on the shift in momentum. The Chiefs went on a 12-5 run to close out the game 25-18.
This late game fade also plagued the Cardinals in game two but they started with solid play.
Freshman outside hitter Taylor Douglas scored with a spike winner for a 1-0 lead.
Senior libero Megan Heller dug out a tough shot as part of a fantastic volley that, unfortunately, Brodhead couldn’t cash in for a point. The Cards and Chiefs basically traded points at the onset of the game. Johnson knotted the score at eight with another kill. Johnson has been one of Brodhead’s most consistent offensive weapons and she continued her fine play against Big Foot.
With the Chiefs up 13-10, Johnson stopped a brief Big Foot run with another clutch shot to a gap in the visitor’s defense. This point came after the longest volley of the night and Brodhead seemed poised to catch the Chiefs.
However, just like in game one, Brodhead could not seize the opportunity and lost the next point to make it 14-11. Big Foot’s outside hitters then found holes in the Cardinals defense and finished up the game on an 11-4 run.
Brodhead cut the lead to 21-15 at one point but could not stave off the Chiefs. Game two went to Big Foot, 25-15. Down two games in the best-of-five match, Brodhead had to come up with a gem in game three to stay alive. It looked like it might happen at the start.
The Cardinals jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead behind the serving of freshman Amanda Pickel.
However, Big Foot climbed back into the game to tie the game at five. Brodhead would claim the lead once more when they went up 6-5 but after that it was all Big Foot. The Chiefs went on a 9-0 run to take a 14-6 advantage.
Junior middle hitter Blair Baumgartner stopped the run with well-placed shot that cut the lead to 14-7. For the next point, Mariah Mohns tricked the Chiefs with a nifty piece of misdirection. She played the ball like she was going to set it to an outside hitter but she smartly sent the ball over and caught Big Foot napping. The score was now 14-8.
But the Cardinals couldn’t come up with a big run of their own and lost game three 25-15.
With the loss, Brodhead fell to 2-4 in the Rock Valley South. Big Foot improved to 6-0 in conference. The next match is Thursday, October 8 at home against the Parkview Vikings. On Tuesday, October 13, the Cardinals hit the road to face the Palmyra-Eagle Panthers. Freshman and junior varsity matches start at 5:00 p.m. The varsity match follows.
