The Windham Bombers’ volleyball team will be starting from square one at the beginning of the season. The Bombers showed flashes but succumbed to self-inflicted errors, losing their season-opener against Portage County Conference foe Waterloo 25-19, 25-21,25-18 last Saturday morning at Marty Hill Court in Windham.
“We definitely need to work on getting confidence in our playing and stop second-guessing our choices,” Coach Lauryn Gintert said. “It is definitely that we knew this was going to be a struggle. They are a young varsity-experienced team, and they are still trying to find their confidence.”
Although the Bombers (0-1, 0-0) and Waterloo are no longer Portage Trail Conference foes, the Portage County rivalry has been renewed since the teams started competing against each other beginning in the 2022 season. After Windham won the first two meetings, Waterloo has evened the series with Saturday’s victory marking its second straight victory.
“We always enjoy playing Waterloo,” the 10th-year coach said.” They have great sportsmanship, and it is always nice to get some time in Portage County. They are similar in size so it feels like a school we can play with where a lot of schools in Portage County are tougher to get time with.”
On Saturday, the teams traded points at the beginning of the first set, but the Bombers pulled away with a 7-2 run, taking a 17-12 advantage, fueled by some crisp serves by sophomore Kyleigh Simpson, who delivered three straight aces.
The Vikings responded with 13-2 run, claiming victory in the first set by a 25-19 margin. Windham struggled against Waterloo’s service game, as senior Brilyn Eddy was lethal from the back row, recording three straight aces during the run, leading the Vikings to take a 1-0 lead.
Gintert acknowledged that once the Vikings went into attack mode, Windham struggled to reestablish momentum.
“Passing is something that we have to continue to get better at,” she added. “Our serving is pretty strong. I think it is our strength but passing and communication, we have a long way to go.”
Waterloo held an early advantage in the second set, taking a 12-10 lead and went on another big run, outscoring the Bombers 6-1 to go ahead 18-12. Windham responded with a 9-5 surge, trimming the Vikings’ lead to 23-21 near the end of the second set but the comeback fell short as senior Delaney Miller recorded a kill and an ace to close out the set, staking the Vikings to a 2-0 advantage.
After pulling within a 15-15 tie in the third set, the Bombers could not sustain their momentum as Waterloo pulled away with a 7-3 spree and ultimately closed out its Portage County foes by winning the final set 25-18.
Gintert said that in spite of the loss, she was encouraged by Windham’s service game throughout the match which helped them mount comebacks, especially from sophomore Kierra Sanders and Simpson, who combined to record seven aces.
“Kierrah played a lot last year, I knew she was solid with serving,” she noted. “This is Kyleigh’s first year of playing varsity all the way around and she really showed that she deserves the serving position. She led the team in serving and I was really impressed with it.”
According to Gintert, there is little varsity experience to go around this year in the Windham program, as junior Makenzi Blockinger and sophomore Kierrah Sanders are the only players who received varsity action last season.
It is one of the more inexperienced varsity teams Gintert has coached in her time with Windham, as the team has several holes to fill in the wake of graduating Quinn Justham and former transfer student Sara Giugni, who has returned to Italy after spending a season at Windham.
Gintert acknowledged that Blockinger and Sanders will fill prominent leadership roles in a roster that will be learning on the fly.
“We will look to those two for the leadership roles to help the girls gain their confidence and they just have to keep putting in the hours and putting in the work and they will keep getting better,” she added.
After a Northeastern Athletic Conference Stripes Division duel against Chalker on Tuesday and a NAC crossover road contest against rival Maplewood on Thursday, the Bombers will return to the court when they host NAC foe Badger on Aug. 25 at Marty Hilly Court at Windham High School.
