Lady Panthers struggle in Janesville

By Dan Truttschel~Sports Correspondent

    It seemed pretty clear early Saturday morning that the Wilmot girls volleyball team’s focus may not be on the court.

    And in the end, that made for a fairly long day in Janesville.

    The Panthers won just one of four matches at the day-long Janesville Craig Tournament, as they defeated Parker, but fell to Craig, Delavan-Darien and Parkview.

    Wilmot lost 2-25, 16-25 to Craig; 15-25, 20-25 to Delavan; and 23-25, 20-25 to Parkview. The Panthers survived a 33-31, 20-25, 18-16 decision over Parker to salvage one match for the day.

    “Saturday, the girls seemed very distracted,” Wilmot coach Kevin Rapp said.

    “There was a big football win on Friday, the Homecoming dance Saturday, and to be honest, I felt as though they were at times more concerned about getting home to get ready for the dance than they were fighting for wins.”

    The highlight of the day clearly was the Parker match, which included the marathon first game that Wilmot pulled out.

    “Thirty-three points is impressive to battle back and forth that much for that long,” Rapp said. “This season has been a season of runs for us. By that, I mean we will either give up several points in a row or go on our own run and score several points in a row.

    “From 24 on, there were no runs. That was impressive. Also, fighting from a 14-10 hole in the third set and to win it 18-16 showed the girls really wanted to win that match.”

    Individual statistical leaders from the tournament were unavailable this week.

    The tournament came on the heels of arguably Wilmot’s best overall effort of 2013 last Tuesday night in a 12-25, 14-25, 16-25 to visiting Westosha Central, the state’s sixth-ranked Division 1 squad.

      “I cannot begin to sing the team’s praises enough for the performance against a top-10 team in the state,” he said. “The way they came out with energy and determination was the biggest key to our success.

 

Two road matches next

    Wilmot was back in action Tuesday night at Union Grove, a team that was ranked 10th in Division 1 in the latest wissports.net poll. Results from that contest were unavailable this week.

    Following the Union Grove contest, the Panthers travel to Indian Trails Academy Thursday night for a non-conference contest at 6:30 p.m.

    “The (match at ITA) could go either way,” Rapp said. “We need to stay focused on the task in front of us and come out with a ‘W.’”


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