Maidens volleyball to make second half adjustments

The Ronan Maidens volleyball team is in a state of flux with a young roster and still making the transition from Class B to A.

The Maidens, who graduated some of their major contributors from last season including Lee and Alicia Camel, are still working on finding their identity in the early portion of the season.

This week, Ronan lost back-to-back contests to Class A opponents Columbia Falls and Browning. Maidens coach Charla Lake said she felt her team could have played better in the last two matches.

Ronan dropped a three-set match to Columbia Falls 25-10, 25-12, and 25-22.

“I am a little disappointed in our play and I think we could have beat both of those teams if we had played better,” Lake said.

Lake, whose Maidens are in their first-ever season transitioning from Class B to Class A, said she doesn’t feel like the transition has affected her team’s ability to compete.

“It feels different and I wouldn’t say Class A is a lot stronger,” Lake said. “In Class B, you had to play teams like Florence and Loyola. Both of those teams were pretty tough. The year before they were pretty strong but I wouldn’t say Class A is a lot tougher, or at least it doesn’t seem like it.”

Lake said she is emphasizing the basic fundamental components for her very young team to implement.

“We just to try to emphasize a lot of repetition on the basic skills: serving, passing, hitting and setting,” Lake said. “That is where we are at. We need to look at a lot of the basics and just be a little more fundamentally sound and focus on the fundamentals. Sometimes the girls just free ball and every time you free ball, it’s like you are giving a point away.”

After the match with Columbia Falls, the Maidens turned around and lost to Browning in five games 25-15, 17-25, 25-21, and 10-15.

In the loss, Madeline McCrea led the team with five of the team total 16 kills, Tiana Ulutoa had 25 of the team’s 101 digs and 14 assists, and Regan Clairmont had five of the team’s 16 service aces.

Lake said she felt her team still needs to modify a lot moving forward.

“The girls were not playing aggressively and they were just content getting the ball over but they need to execute in the end,” Lake said. “When they play aggressively it’s not so easy to put the ball back on our side.”

One of the primary reasons Ronan is struggling is something they can’t control. The Maidens are on a youth movement with Louetta Conko-Camel being the one player who played significant minutes last season.

“This season is going to be tough for us because we have one girl returning and playing right now,” Lake said. “We aren’t returning the kids that we thought we would return. I think it will take a bit longer for us to get into a groove because we are very young and when you are very young, it’s really hard to be confident.”

Lake has a lot of confidence in her young and talented roster.

“We have some great girls coming up and we have only seven kids on the bench,” Lake said. “Numbers are low this year and the girls are expected to do a lot. We should get plenty of playing time this year and build for next year.”