Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Taylor Ariasola (13) and Jordyn Hilgemann (14) go up for a block during their match against JCC on Tuesday. Marshall defeated JCC 3-0.

MARSHALL — Marshall volleyball coach Dan Westby said their two-week quarantine wait was a really difficult experience and a true momentum stopper for their team. After playing two matches on the road to begin the season, the Tigers have had to sit on the sidelines since Oct. 11 after a close exposure to COVID-19. They also had three matches postponed during the two-week stretch, including their home opener last Thursday.

Now, the wait is officially over.

No. 2 Marshall returned to the court on Tuesday night to face Jackson County Central in their first home match of the season and cruised to a 3-0 (25-5, 25-21, 25-18) victory.

“The frustrating thing about going into quarantine was I thought we were really starting to hit our stride and do a number of good things and then all of a sudden to have to go into quarantine and have to stop all of that, that’s difficult,” Westby said. “One thing I’ve noticed through this whole COVID thing is I think our kids have really handled it well.”

Westby added that he felt they came in with a lot of focus right from the start.

“A concern that we had coming in as coaches was because of our lack of practice we just didn’t want this to look like recreational volleyball, we wanted it to look like competitive volleyball,” Westby said. “To our kids’ credit, I thought they came out with a lot of focus and it never really did look like that. Certainly, we made some errors and mistakes but overall I thought our focus from the first serve was spot-on.”

Marshall didn’t have much rust to shake off in the opening set, as it raced out to a 6-1 lead. The Tigers continued their strong play over the next several possessions, going on an 11-0 run to extend their advantage to 17-1 before JCC got a point to stop the bleeding. Marshall then would only allow a couple more points by the Huskies in the frame before taking Set 1, 25-5.

The second set saw JCC claim an early lead at 2-1, but Marshall answered right back to go up 6-3 on an ace by Jordyn Hilgemann. Both teams traded points over the next few serves, with Marshall continuing to hold a lead, but the Huskies battled back with a small run to cut the deficit to five at 16-11. JCC would get to as close as two on a pair of occasions, but Marshall was able to hang on and take Set 2, 25-21 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3 was tight to start, with Marshall holding a slim 4-3 lead before the Tigers went on an 8-2 run to take a 12-5 advantage. Marshall would build a double-digit lead at 16-6 before ultimately taking the frame 25-18.

Hilgemann led the way for Marshall with 12 kills while Emily Meier added eight and Leah Jones had five. Caitlyn Christenson led in digs with 21 while Hilgemann added 13 and Cassie Hoover had 12. Maysa Gillingham led in set assists with 33 while Taylor Ariasola led in blocks with five.

Saluting

the seniors

Marshall also recognized its seven seniors. They are Abby Dubs, Kendra Webb, Morgan Hart, Meier, Hilgemann, Araya Rock and Courtni Nielsen. With having such a large senior class, Westby said he’s proud of how they’ve stuck through it all and supported each other on and off the floor.

“There’s a lot of them, which I think says a lot in itself because they’ve stuck it through all the way through and that’s not an easy thing,” Westby said. “They support each other, which playing time varies from senior to senior, but they do a good job of supporting each other and I think that’s probably their strength; they’re always there to pick each other up.”

Up next

Marshall (3-0) will face Luverne on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.