Brethren swept rival Onekama, 25-14, 25-20, 25-14, in its league opener to pick up where it left off.
“You just want to come out competitive, show that you’re still here, and the girls did that,” said Bobcats coach Rachel Edmondson. “They started off so strong tonight.
“We’ve had times this year when we’d do that, but then a couple sets go a bit rocky. Tonight they stayed solid.”
Brethren’s Mia Sacksteder gave the Portagers fits from the service line, scoring 22 points in all, which included 11 aces. The Bobcats’ Emily Krause added a pair of kills and two blocks.
“The biggest thing was their movement,” Edmondson said of the sound victory. “We did not have a lot of balls just touch the floor on us.
“That in itself is huge, when you can keep getting it hit at you, and you keep setting up. I really think that that was the deciding factor tonight.”
Brethren played with the lead the majority of the night, but the second set was essentially back-and-forth. Onekama played right with the Bobcats to an 18-18 tie, but couldn’t obtain the edge late.
“We’re still in the process of working on positional stuff, getting used to playing together, and working on the communication,” said Onekama coach Sherri Slater. “That’s a big part of the process.
