Leopold kicks off C1D3 tournament with win over Marquand

HEADLINE: Wildcats defeat Marquand in district volleyball quarterfinal

Leopold made quick work of Marquand-Zion to kick off the quarterfinal round of the Class 1 District 3 District Tournament on Friday, Oct. 25, in Zalma.

The Wildcats took the first set 25-7, prevailed 25-4 in the second game, then ended the best-of-five match with a 25-8 victory in the third set. Rylie Schreiner led the Wildcats with seven kills. She also had two blocks.

Jocelyn Van de Ven collected 12 sets while teammate Ashtyn Van de Ven contributed 11 sets and four kills. Piper Lincoln added four kills while Katlyn Jansen tallied two kills. Ashtyn Van de Ven finished with a team-high eight aces while Malia VanderMierden was credited with five aces.

The Wildcats controlled each match throughout. In the first set, they jumped to a 6-0 edge. The lead grew to 8-3 after a kill attempt by Schreiner wasn’t handled by Marquand. An ace from Piper Lincoln later made it 15-6 in favor of Leopold.

Jocelyn Van De Ven’s set and a tip point from Schreiner pushed the Leopold lead to 18-7. Ava Jansen’s kill attempt couldn’t get returned cleanly, leading to a 21-7 advantage. Schreiner’s kill ended the first set, 25-7.

It was an even more efficient second match, with Leopold jumping to an 11-0 lead before a serve landed out of bounds. Later a serve went into the net for Marquand’s second point.

“It was a match where we went out and moved around some girls into new positions where we don’t normally play them, give them a chance for just trying new places,” said Leopold coach Heather Jansen. “We let girls set that don’t normally set.

“(It’s) always a higher intensity when we get toward the end of the season. I feel like we’ve worked out all of the kinks in our rotations, out of the girls’ swings toward the ball, and sets toward hitters. At this point in time of the season, we’ve refined it, and we’re trying to put it all together at the same time. We’re not looking to improve anything, we’re looking to play more efficiently.

Leopold improved to 21-6 with the quarterfinal victory. The second-seeded Wildcats advance to take on No. 3 Bell City, which defeated No. 6 Zalma in straight sets (25-16, 25-8, 25-10).

“I always tell the girls, obviously we’re out there to win, but to just to go out there and have fun,” Jansen said. “If you’re not, then it’s more of a job. The big thing for us is taking every single game as its own, not looking to far ahead, coming together as a team and jelling.”

The Bulldogs finish the 2024 campaign with an overall record of 5-18-1.

“We held our own pretty good in the first set and then lost our ground in the second and third sets,” Zalma coach Nicole Schrader said. “We’re a young team. I’ve got two seniors leaving. We’re a very young team.”

Zalma finished the season with only seven players as one of girls missed the end of the season with a shoulder injury.

“There was a lot of learning, there were times we did great, and then there were times where we just fell apart,” Schrader said. "Communication was really difficult for us. That’s our plan for next year, really strive to do better with that.”

Meadow Heights defeated Oran in straight sets (25‑13, 25-13, 25‑11) to advance to the semifinal round, where the Panthers will take on the defending Class 1 state champion Advance.