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By Kate Huber, Maquoketa Valley senior

DELHI – The Maquoketa Valley volleyball team traveled to Winthrop and pulled on a 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20 win over a much-improved East Buchanan team on Sept. 13.

Renee Huber led the offense with 13 kills, followed by Nicole Kudrna, who contributed nine kills. Ali Holtz led serving for the night, going 15 for 16. Setter Brooke Wooten had 24 assists.

The defense was led by libero Ashley Holtz, with eight digs, followed by Renee Huber with six. At the net,  Kudrna led the team with four blocks.

“The girls came home with a solid win against a very scrappy EB team,” Coach Tiffany Feldman said. “We had our highs and lows during the game, but fought through for the win.”

Last Saturday, the Wildcats traveled to Manchester to compete in the West Delaware tournament. Maquoketa couldn’t get into a good flow, failing to make it out of pool play. The Wildcats lost in two games to West Delaware, 21-14 and 21-8. The girls were defeated by Ed-Co, 21-11 and 21-16. They won their only set of the day against South Tama 21-18, but lost the next 21-13 and 15-7.

Kudrna led the offense with 10 kills. Huber followed with seven kills.  Holtz led the serving, going 17 for 18 with 3 aces. Wooten had 14 assists,  Holtz had 12.

Defensively, Morgan Manternach led blocking for the day with seven overall blocks. Kudrna followed her with five. Holtz led the back row with nine digs and Wooten contributed seven.

Last Tuesday, the Wildcats traveled to Central City hoping to play better than they had the previous weekend. Although they started on a high note, the girls struggled through five games and barely came through with the win.

“The Wildcats came out strong against Central City, but couldn’t keep that intensity up through game 2 and 3,” Feldman said.  ”We came back and gained control in four and five but really made it hard on ourselves. We had some great plays made, but constantly played catch up.”

The offense was led by Kudrna, who had 11 kills. Huber followed her with eight kills. Sophomore Tiffany Hoeger led the serving, going 22 for 23 with three aces.  Huber went 17-18 with 4 aces.

The defense was led by Kudrna with three blocks. The back row was once again led by Holtz with 12 digs.