Sports

Eagles take district opener

By Tyler Ohmann

09/18/2012

The Newburg-Westhope Eagles opened their District 11 schedule with a 3-0 sweep of the Dunseith Lady Dragons last Thursday in Newburg.

“It feels good to get a win, a solid three-game sweep is always nice,” said Eagles coach Kaitie Fluhrer. “We didn’t play as good as we could, but it was a stepping stone, first district win, we’ll take it.”

The Eagles cruised in set one with a 25-18 win. The Lady Dragons made it closer in set two and three, but still fell 25-21 and 26-24.

Senior hitter Jade Teske served for the match point at the end of game three, and admitted the pressure of the situation.

“It was really nerve-wracking,” Teske said.
Teske was happy with the outcome of the game and the match to kick off the district schedule.
“It was our first district win, so it’s a good start,” Teske said. “We just have to keep rolling.”

Seniors Bailey Tofteland and Hadlee Schell were the top players for the Eagles on the day.

Tofteland had a team-best six kills and eight digs. Schell had four kills and team-highs in aces (six) and blocks (three).

Fluhrer believes improved hitting led to the victory.

“We are starting to hit a lot better, and adjusting to getting our passes down, sets down,” Fluhrer said. “Also what we’ve been working on is adjusting to our sets, not getting them right on the net, you got to still get them down. We’ve had too many free balls and pushes.”

“That’s what we’ve been really stressing in practice is, ‘hit that ball,’” Fluhrer added.
Both Fluhrer and Teske admitted that there were many things that could improve.

“We have got to cover,” Fluhrer said. “We stand flat on our feet too much. We have to get our butts up and cover.”

“We didn’t pass the greatest tonight, but it did the job,” Fluherer added.

Teske thought communication could have been better.

“We just need to keep talking and communicating with each other, and it should go good,” Teske said.

The Eagles improved to 4-11 on the season overall and 1-0 in district play. Teske said Newburg-Westhope’s goal is to make it past the district tournament, and win throughout the district season.

“Our goal is to go to regions because we haven’t for many years, our school hasn’t,” Teske said. “Our goal also is to win most of our district games.”

The Eagles play at 7 p.m., in Bottineau for their next district contest. It will be the only game on the week for both teams.