WHITEHALL — Whitehall dropped a pair of very close matches to Kent City and Shelby at Thursday's season-opening home tri meet. The Vikings won game one in each of the matches before falling short.
Kent City rallied to beat the Vikings 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, and Whitehall dominated game one before falling to Shelby 13-25, 25-23, 25-21.
Vikings coach Claire McGrew was optimistic about her team's performance, particularly with regard to their fast starts in both matches.
"We're starting on time, playing with our tempo, our pace," McGrew said. "There are just some things that we've got to work on, like finishing. It's our first two matches of the season...I'm very pleased overall with how we did perform for being our first set of matches."
While the Viking roster has five seniors, including returning veteran starters Clare Westerlund, Delaney Kramer and Kailyn Skuse, the team is working Aaliyah Jamison back into the rotation after she missed last season with a torn ACL. There were times during the matches where it appeared the Vikings struggled with communication as balls fell in between a few different players. The team also saw some untimely errors, especially late in the match against Shelby - the Vikes scored two of the Tigers' last three points for them in each of the last two games with miscues.
Westerlund and Kramer led the way down the stretch of game one against Kent City, each with pivotal kills. The Vikings lost a close game two and seemed to be in good shape in game three when they took a 7-2 lead. However, Kent City worked back to tie it at 15, then scored 10 of the last 12 points.
"We have a little bit of growth still going on," McGrew said. "I know that we have quite a few seniors coming back, but just trying to figure out where our groove is for each position is going to still be a thing.
"It's early on. People are still battling it out. I feel like we have fairly good depth on our roster, so people are, every single day, getting in practice and trying to gain a spot. I think that's going to be something that, as we're working, is just going to keep elevating our play and hopefully paying off in November, too."
Whitehall leaned heavily on Kramer and Westerlund offensively, unsurprising considering they are both fourth-year varsity players. McGrew said prior to the season that the team's libero position is a moving target and that the Vikes may even potentially switch liberos depending on the match, citing the University of Nebraska team that does the same thing.
The team's success, though, will likely depend in large part on those four-year varsity stars, along with junior setter Peyton Schultz. Westerlund plays in the middle, while Kramer, despite her imposing size, is in her second year on the outside. Kramer is lefthanded, and McGrew said being a southpaw makes that spot more comfortable for her as an offensive player.
While the Vikes would have preferred wins, McGrew saw a lot to build on Thursday as the team looks to build their on-court chemistry and get ready for what it hopes is a fruitful regular season.
"I think the girls played pretty well and it was a really cool first day," McGrew said. "I can't wait to get back to work."
