Bedford volleyball team bows out with first 'bad loss' of season
TRENTON – Bedford volleyball coach Jodi Manore said as the state tournament opened that her team had not suffered a bad loss all season.
She may have jinxed herself.
The Mules certainly felt they had let a win – and a District championship – get away Friday with a 25-23, 14-25, 10-25, 28-26, 15-6 loss to Woodhaven.
“Absolutely, this was our first bad loss and worse,” Manore said.
Bedford looked in complete command at times, then inexplicably lost its way in key junctures.
“That's the way we practiced all year,” Manore said. “We have a lot of talent, but we don't do the little things right.”
Manore warned her team not to take Woodhaven lightly.
“They didn't quit,” she said. “They are hosting the Regionals. I wouldn't want to host a Regional and not play in it.”
Bedford got off to a horrible start as unforced errors gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead. The Mules seem to right themselves and built a 4-point lead. They were up 18-16 when Woodhaven made a late surge and stole the set.
The next two sets were no contest and it appeared Bedford would wrap up a win in the fourth. It led most of the set, but Woodhaven finally tied it at 20-20, then the teams went back and forth until the Warriors finally pulled out a win.
Again, the Mules seemed to take charge in the decisive fifth set as a pair of kills by Jaelyn Hall and one by Victoria Gray produced a 5-0 lead.
But Bedford would score just one point the rest of the way.
Woodhaven closed it out by scoring the last 9 points – a string that included three Bedford errors on serve receive.
“Our serve receive was terrible,” Manore said.
Kaylin Schroeder led Bedford with 50 assists, 17 points and 29 digs.
“That's part of the problem,” Manore said. “When your setter has to make 29 digs, that means she is not setting the ball.”
Taylor Destatte served 19 points, Rylee Haberland logged 24 digs, Hall had 18 blocks, and Gray 13 blocks.
Macy Madalinski led the hitters with 16 kills and a .451 hitting percentage and Hannah Fausze added 13 kills and hit .333.
Destatte, Fausze, and Haberland are the only seniors on the roster for a team that finished 50-12-2.
“We should be (good next year), but we have to make adjustments,” Manore said. “We need to practice better.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Bedford volleyball team bows out with first 'bad loss' of season
