Mercy netters blanked in season-opener

As many opening nights are, Thursday's volleyball match was a learning experience for the Lady Warriors from Mercy High.

The squad opened its season with a 15-25, 12-25, 15-25 loss to Champion Christian in Chico.

Mercy coach Zane Zelei said his players are still learning where they are supposed to be with each rotation.

"We just didn't know where we were supposed to be defensively," Zelei said. "Our serve-receive was our biggest problem. We need to work on being more aggressive."

Junior co-captain Maggie Keller smacked a kill on the initial rally, and teammate Jennifer Gentry served an ace for a 2-0 lead, but Champion scored the next seven points.

Mercy managed to knot the score at seven, eight, nine and 10 in the first game to hang with the Lady Mustangs, but eventually their inexperience showed.

Two of last year's top players, Benicia Grace and Melissa Grens, both graduated. Julene Stokes transferred to Hamilton and Natasha Czajka also isn't playing. Those four departing left no one with experience at setter.

"Our passing actually started out great," Zelei said, "but we were randomly around the court after that and it was difficult to attack."

Kayleigh Mincer opened the second game with a kill but points were few and far between thereafter. Mercy struggled to sustain rallies and Champion sprinted to a 16-4 lead.

Mercy put up a better fight in Game Three after falling behind early. Diana Van Ert drilled two kills and teammates Gentry and Giselle Espinoza served aces to help bring Mercy's score to double-digits.

Facing game point, Keller landed two consecutive aces to force a Champion Christian time out, but the Lady Mustangs regrouped to score the final point.

Keller finished with five kills and Mincer had three in the match. Gentry, Keller and Mincer served a pair of aces each, while Emy Nelson, Alex McFadyen and Espinoza all had one.

The Lady Warriors (0-1) travel to Dunsmuir on Tuesday and play in the weekend's Hamilton Tourney.

Contact Paul Gadbois at 824-1036.