The Ellsworth Panthers volleyball team began Middle Border Conference play on Thursday, Sept. 16 at home against the Osceola Chieftains, a match that the Panthers lost 3-0, dropping their conference record to 0-1.

Going into the first conference game, Ellsworth had an overall record of 3-11, which included wins against Melrose- Mindoro, Clayton and Durand. Despite a record that left something to be desired, the Ellsworth Panthers still have a chance to turn the season around.

That journey began on Thursday night against the Chieftains, the first home conference game of the season. The stands were nearly full, and the student section was rocking, as they tried to give some energy to the home team.

Even with a thunderous crowd, the Panthers struggled early in the first set. The Chieftains set the tone out of the gate, beginning the game on a 9-2 run that carried Osceola throughout the remainder of the first set. Osceola’s lead remained relatively constant throughout the first set. At one point the Chieftains led 17-9. That’s when they went on another small run and put the match away, winning 25-10 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The second set was more of the same for an Ellsworth team that couldn’t get much going against a tough conference opponent. Osceola again got out to an early lead in the second set. Textbook passing and athletic spikes built another large lead for the Chieftains which was 15-7. Once the Osceola lead got to eight points, Ellsworth head coach Nicole Vande Berg called for a timeout to settle her team down.

Coming out of the timeout, Osceola continued to outperform a young Ellsworth roster. The lead grew and when the second set was over, Osceola had won 25-10 for the second consecutive set. The victory meant that Osceola then led 20 in the series and only needed to win the next match to head home with a conference victory.

The third set was different from the previous two. Although Ellsworth again trailed early, the Panthers came storming from behind and put a scoring run together to close the gap on another significant Chieftain lead. At one point in the third set, Ellsworth trailed 11-5 and eventually cut that lead down to four, 17-13. With another small scoring run, the Panthers tied the game at 19 and then took a 20-19 lead, their first lead of the entire series.

Osceola rallied and put together several quality plays, took the lead, and never looked back. The Chieftains won 25-21 and swept Ellsworth in three consecutive sets. The loss dropped Ellsworth’s overall record to 3-11 for the season, including a 0-1 record in Middle Border Conference action.

After the game, Ellsworth head coach Nicole Vande Berg reflected on the first conference match of the season.

“Osceola is a good team, they’re usually top of the conference – first or second,” Vande Berg said. “To come out and start (with a loss) is tough. My team is pretty young. They’re not necessarily young age-wise, some of our seniors haven’t had a lot of playing time at the varsity level. Osceola runs a fast offense and when you haven’t seen that before, that’s tough.”

Vande Berg noted that although the team lost three straight sets, there were some positives to take from the match. Most notably, the effort in the third set, which was Ellsworth’s closest set of the night.

“I think they decided that if they were going to lose, they were going to do it being aggressive rather than just handing Osceola free balls to slam at us,” Vande Berg said after the loss.

She spoke about how great it was to be back in front of a full home crowd, something that was noticeably lacking during the COVID-19 public health crisis of 2020, which had a significant impact on high school sports.

“Our crowd is loud, and we love having them here,” Vande Berg said. “We have to figure out how to play through some of that noise. They’re not used to playing in that or even in front of their peers. That’s different than playing in front of mom and dad.”

As the season moves forward, Ellsworth will continue to have tough games against quality conference opponents such as Prescott, Osceola and Somerset in Middle Border Conference action. According to Vande Berg, this is not her most physically imposing team. To win in the future, they won’t be able to simply overpower other teams, especially in conference matches.

“Almost all of (the other middle border teams) are taller than we are, every single one,” Vande Berg said. “We’re going to have to learn how to hit through a block or around a block because we’re not going to be able to jump over it. We’re not going to make them taller. We have to play faster to make the block move. We have to clean things up.”

Vande Berg will continue to work with her young roster to improve as the season goes on. The next game on the calendar for Ellsworth is on Thursday, Sept. 23, at Prescott High School. That match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

Sophomore Ava Brookshaw of the Ellsworth volleyball team going through her pre-serve routine during the Thursday night volleyball match in front of a packed home crowd.Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Ava Brookeshaw and Katelynn Sears move along the net while the team is in between play against the Osceola Chieftains. The Panthers were defeated in three consecutive sets on Thursday night. Photo by Reagan Hoverman