Fatima opened its gym to Blair Oaks on Thursday and the stands were full for this rivalry volleyball match, which ended with the Lady Comets winning in straight sets, 25-22, 25-22 to hand the Lady Falcons their first loss of the year.

“This was a big night for our program,” said Coach Lisa McKim. “The rivalry with Blair Oaks is not new; everyone knows it is a big deal anytime the Comets and Falcons meet up.”

However, this night was different as the Lady Falcons were coming to Westphalia with a record of 21-0.

“They wanted to keep that in tact and we knew it was going to be very tough to get a win from them since they have been playing so well” said McKim.

“We discussed it as a team and knew that our defensive game was going to have to be strong against them to stay in it and let our offense be effective. I honestly think this is our best defensive match of the season so far. We were everywhere, all players hustledwell, got very good first touches on the ball, and our net players were absolute beasts up there. There may not have been huge numbers on blocks but let me tell you they touched almost every attack that came our way, and that led to some huge defensive plays in our back court.”

Recording blocks were Claire Nilges with three, Jorey Luebbert, Kendal Nilges and Ellie Crede with two each and Allison Samson with one.

That blocking was crucial and libero Avery Orscheln had a phenomenal night in the back court to seal the deal with 18 of Fatima’s 45 digs.

“That number is huge,” said McKim. “Let me tell you, Blair Oaks hitters are tough and I can guarantee they have been winning ball games by getting by teams defense. Avery did not let that happen. This was her best game of the year so far — hands down.

Every one of her digs were tough balls to get to.”

Ellie Crede had 11 digs, and Hannah Moeller broke out her defensive game and added seven.

“This was the best I have seen Hannah play in the back court this year as well,” said McKim.

Allison Samson posted four digs, Jorey Luebbert and Kendal Nilges each had two and Claire Nilges finished with one.

“Every time we get a defensive dig allows our offense another chance time to run, and this is what won that ball game for us,” said McKim. “I’m not taking away from our kill numbers, but without this defense we don’t win plain and simple.”

From the service line Fatima only recorded two aces in the match one each by Moeller and Jenna Reinkemeyer. “That just shows you what a strong passing team the Falcons are,” McKim noted.

Samson ran the court in these very tough two sets and recorded 24 assists along the way. Leading kills for the night were Luebbert with 10, Crede with nine, Moeller with six, Claire Nilges with five and Kendal Nilges with one.

“The spread of our net could not be better,” said McKim. “Allison did a great job keeping the Blair Oaks blockers moving and

with their power at the net.”

Another huge factor, McKim said, was Fatima’s student section. “They came out like I have never seen them before,” she added. “That support system was like have a seventh player out there and, to be honest, I’m not sure if we play as well as we did without them. They were awesome!

It was a great night for Fatima Volleyball and a great win for our team.”

The JV team had an equally tough match-up but was unable to find their rhythm, losing in straight sets, 15-25, 23-25.

“The Falcons always put together a very strong team and are tough to beat,” ‘said Coach Curtis Brandt. “It takes a team that is performing at the top of their game and everyone has to be working as consistently as possible to limit the number of points given up from errors to beat a successful team as Blair Oaks.

In the first game, we were a little rough getting started, along with some anxiety and created too many errors, resulting in a loss. In the second game, we were able to rally together much better and put up a strong performance but fell a little short in the end. I am confident that if the match would have taken us to a third set, the Lady Comets would have been even tougher to beat, putting together a challenging competition.”

Leah Markway used her good court sense and found holes on the other side of the net, leading the team with six kills. It was difficult to score on the serve against the Lady Falcons’ defense but Samantha Bax was able to get two serves through for aces and led the team with 11 serving attempts. Anna Crede and Samantha Bax each had two blocks.

“Our defense was the strongest part of our game overall, aggressively combining for 36 total digs for the night,” Brandt noted.

In the C match, the Lady Comets claimed a 25-15, 25-17 win.

“We played some of the best games all season with all players being aggressive and dominant in their positions,” said Brandt.

Eliza Nilges had a strong night with accurate sets, leading the team with 11 assists. Ryleigh Wegman led the team with five kills but was closely followed by Jenna Bax and AnnaBelle Massman, each of whom posted four kills. Wegman also led the team with four aces in 10 attempts, while Jenna Bax was also very successful converting three aces in 12 attempts. Addison Peters led the team with three blocks