BROOKINGS – The Bobcats fell to 1-9 on the season after being swept by the Marshall (Minn.) Tigers. Marshall ran away in each set, winning 25-17, 25-15 and 25-16.
“We had a girl get hurt in warm-up’s, so we had a brand new lineup out there tonight,” Brookings head coach Tina Birgen said. “I thought our girls adjusted well with it and stepped into their new roles. Obviously we’re disappointed. It’s not the outcome we were anticipating, but there were points of the match that went well.”
The Bobcats had a 10-7 lead in the second set when the Tigers went on 7-0 run to take the lead and didn’t look back.
“We had a lack of consistency there. That’s what tends to happen in the second set, but we’re working on it. We’re going to learn to grow,” Birgen said.
In each set, the Bobcats went on a run when they were down to match point. Birgen said it showed her team’s fight.
“We’ve talked a lot about not giving up and playing with what we call ‘Bobcat heart.’ We’re continuing to work every day and that’s what I want them to do,” Birgen said.
Brookings had 22 total kills on the night. Kat Charging led the team with eight kills. Regan Weisback had seven and Johanna Miller had six. The Bobcats had 50 digs as a team and Molly Steffensen led the way with 14. Kennady Schafer had had nine digs and Tessa Nelson had eight. The Bobcats had four total blocks, Miller had two of them and they had four aces as a team.
“We’ve been working on defense,” Birgen said. “I thought our defense was a lot better tonight, but tonight we needed more from our offense. So our offense was struggling. We need to find the balance of all it and meshing it together on the same night.”
JV: Marshall 25-23, 20-25, 16-14
Sophomore: Marshall 25-12, 25-18
Freshman A: Marshall 26-24
Freshman B: 25-13, 23-25, 15-5
