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Onalaska High School volleyball coach Megan Swiggum thought the new jump serve of three-year setter Lauren Mlsna could be a weapon. It turned out to be just that late in Onalaska’s season-opening 25-21, 25-21, 26-24 win over Tomah at the Chuck Deeth Fieldhouse Tuesday.
The Hilltoppers trailed 17-14 in the third game, before forging an 18-18 tie on a Rachel Greene kill and three Gretchen Otto kills. But that just set the stage for Mlsna, whose three consecutive aces on jump serves game Onalaska a 21-18 lead. The Hilltoppers never trailed again.
“You have to have the confidence to try it,” Swiggum said. “Some of our other good servers have tried it in practice already, but it’s a skill that’s tough to develop in one year. Lauren tried it at the end of last year and worked on it all summer.”
Jenny Kessler led Onalaska with 15 kills, three more than Otto. But Otto seemed to have more than her fair share of big kills, ending a six-point run to end game two and totaling four kills sandwiching Mlsna’s run of aces.
Mlsna also distributed 33 assists, while finishing with six aces. Greene added nine kills. Onalaska didn’t get to use its new quick-setting offense as much as Swiggum would have liked, especially in the final two games.
“We weren’t passing as well as I wanted,” Swiggum said. “When your setters are off the net, that’s hard to do.
“But we still did a lot of good things early, and we needed to mix things up, too. Tomah sure could dig out hits up tonight, so you have to mix things up when that happens.”
Game three also was tied 24-24, before kills from McKenzie Guth and Kessler ended the match. The Hilltoppers trailed 21-19 in game two, before winning the final six points on two Greene kills, two Guth aces and an Otto kill.
Onalaska won the first 11 points of the match, before holding on in game one. In addition their full-rotation players, the Hilltoppers alternated seniors Sidney Sierp and Anne Christianson in a front-back pairing/
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