NJC volleyball preps for season with scrimmage
By HART PISANI | hpisani@journal-advocate.com |
Aside from a scrimmage back in October, it's been over a year since the NJC Plainswomen volleyball team have taken the court. They have a new full time head coach, a new assistant, plenty of new players, but due to COVID-19, we had only one opportunity to see them in that November scrimmage. They took the court again on Saturday for another scrimmage that was quite a success, but this Friday, the ladies of the NJC volleyball program will finally be back in business.
The scrimmage was informal in that NJC and their opponent (Eastern Wyoming) opted to play five sets regardless of outcome and each went to 25. The Plainswomen came out on top of four of those scrimmages, winning the first set 25-22, the second set 25-22, losing the third set, winning the fourth 25-17, and winning the fifth 25-22.
Head coach Kenzie Chrisman, more than anything, was just excited to get her girls back on the floor.
"It feels great," she said. "We've been together for about six months now before we could actually get a game in. Being in a game situation is nice. There's definitely some errors we need to work on but super proud of the girls today."
NJC did need comeback efforts to win sets one, two, and five. Still, there were standout performances all around. Sydney Crites (15 kills), Olivia Himmel (14 kills), and Christina Pettigrew (11 kills) helped lead the offensive effort from the sophomore class. There were also standout freshman performances, including from recent Sterling High School graduate Jade Feather, who finished with 12 digs and a 2.4 out of 3 serve/receive ration. Fellow freshman Alyssa Winter chipped in 11 digs and had a 2.36 serve/receive ration.
There were plenty of things to be excited for and plenty of things to work on, Chrisman said.
"Our serve/receive was great," she said. "We had two girls (Feather and Winter) passing above a 2.2 which is unbelievable. I'd like to see a little more offensive sets towards our right sides and our middles. I'd like to get them going a little to take off some pressure from our outsides and a little more blocking as well."
Now, it's just a matter of a few days. The Plainswomen will play their first game this Friday, January 22nd against Salt Lake Community College in Casper, Wyoming. They'll play two more games the next day before returning home for the NJC Tournament on January 29th. Just how good could this team be? According to Chrisman, that's all up to the Plainswomen.
"My expectations are always high," she said. "I demand a lot out of my girls and they know that. They have every capability to do amazing things this season but it's going to be up to them on what they want to do."
https://www.journal-advocate.com/2021/01/16/njc-volleyball-preps-for-season-with-scrimmage/