On Friday, the Chamois volleyball team welcomed New Haven’s JV squad for a Pink Out match, with a fundraiser benefiting local resident Jo Reed. A full story is in this week’s paper.

As for the match, things started off well as Chamois claimed a 25-16 win in the first set. However, as the match wore on, the Lady Pirates slowly saw it slip away, 23-25, 21-25, 10-15.

“A lot of times, when they get a little overly amped up, they let their emotions drive their volleyball,” said Coach Jennie Holifield. “We are working on it. The girls feed off each other because they’re a close-knit team, but they need to learn to rein it in. They just need to control it a little bit longer, and unfortunately, tonight, they couldn’t just pull it back together.”

Holifield saw plenty of improvements, however, which she attributed to dedicated practice time. “We only had a game on Monday, so we had three full days of actual practices in a row before tonight’s match,” she said. “We haven’t had three consecutive practices since the season started. I got up on the box in front of the net, and hit the ball over at them. They would go up, block, and then work on getting out of the net and getting back over. I could really see that that made a difference tonight. Unfortunately, serve receive is what seemed to kill us tonight.”

A harsh reality was the disparity between benches. Chamois has only six players, and New Haven had a much deeper bench. “When half their team gets to rest during the game, they’re going to come back in refreshed,” said Holifield.

Stats: Aces: Savanah Sieg (2), Brieanna Keilholz, Emma Mehmert, Nora Wideman, Carly Schollmeyer (1 each); kills: Raigen Cramer (12), Sieg (6), Wideman (1); blocks: Cramer (2); digs: Cramer (3), Wideman, Sieg, Keilholz (2 apiece), Mehmert (1); assists: Mehmert (8), Schollmeyer (4).