Highland volleyball battles but falls short at home against MVC foe Waterloo

In a key mid-season Mississippi Valley Conference matchup of two league leaders, Highland’s volleyball team showed impressive toughness and resiliency.

However, it was the versatility and poise of the Waterloo Bulldogs that ultimately made the difference. And, when the dust settled, Waterloo handed host Highland a 25-20, 25-21 loss Thursday, Sept. 22.

The end result was a bit disappointing for Highland as it struggled at different points in both games to string scoring runs together against a talented and balanced Waterloo club.

“We would string one or two points together, but to get a long run against a good team, you can’t give up a seven-point lead and expect to come back every single time,” Highland coach Natalie Ott said. “It’s ending their runs and after two or three points and then stringing more than two or three points together. Volleyball’s a game of runs.”

In the opening game, the clubs traded serves and points to 19 with neither team ahead more than two points.

Waterloo (13-4, 3-1), however, rode the late 6-1 service run from freshman Kenzy Koudelka to victory in the opening game.

“She’s (Koudelka) a very aggressive server and, again, she knew not only who to serve (to) but to make it short or to serve outside our body or serve really hard and fast,” Ott said. “Every single serve was different — it was hard for us to get into a rhythm passing.”

Waterloo surged to a 16-10 lead in the second game behind the serving of Koudelka and Josie Briggs A 4-1 Highland run capped by Ally Russo’s scoring serve pulled HHS within 17-14.

Highland (5-7, 2-1) pulled within 23-21 on a Larissa Taylor scoring serve but Waterloo scored the next two points to finish the match.

“If we take away some of those serve-receive errors and the aces in transition defensive-wise, we are right there and we’re playing with them,” Ott said. “It was a matter of a couple of aces getting away from us and a couple of mental lapses when it comes to serving or unforced errors.”

Despite the loss, Highland’s effort pleased Ott — especially the play of Taylor, Kamryn Toler and Maddie Hime.

“I’m proud of the fight and I told them in that (last) timeout that we’re not done, we’re good at this and we’ve been coming back all season and to just keep fighting. What I ended that with, too, is we’ve got to get more consistent with our level of play,” Ott said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 11:22 PM.