Brady hosting 8-team tourney

Brady volleyball coach Lynne Johnson knows her team didn’t achieve an 8-2 record without talent and hard work.

“You don’t get to that point without being a good team,” she said. “But I would really like to see them push themselves to the next level.”

The Eagles added to their wins with a pair of victories in the South Loup triangular at Arnold on Sept. 11 and a head-to-head defeat of Sumner-Eddyville-Miller on Friday.

Brady won both matches in the triangular in straight sets, beating Medicine Valley 25-23, 25-13 and downing South Loup 25-15, 25-8.

“We didn’t make it look easy,” Johnson said. “We actually got off to a pretty slow start.”

A much-improved Medicine Valley team pushed the Eagles in the first set before they settled in and finished strong.

“Our right side is still struggling a little with transition,” Johnson said, “but we’re doing a pretty good job of attacking from the back row and the girls are learning that they don’t always have to hammer the ball to get kills. Sometimes, off-speed stuff works better.”

In Friday’s road match with SEM, Johnson said the Mustangs challenged the Eagles at the net.

“SEM did a good job of blocking against us,” the coach said. “That’s something we haven’t seen much of so far.”

The blocks, she said, forced the Eagles to scramble a little more than usual.

“It was one of those on-edge games where things that should have been fairly easy weren’t.”

The Eagles picked up the win, though, 25-20, 25-15, 19-25, 25-17.

No statistics were available.

After a frantic start to the season, Brady has the week to practice and refine.

“We have a little bit of a chance to work on some little things,” Johnson said. “I want to push some of the girls a little outside their comfort zone and see if we can find a little better rhythm and flow.”

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday when Brady hosts an eight-team tournament.

Schools involved include Anselmo-Merna, Eustis-Farnam, Maxwell, Mullen, Stapleton-McPherson County, South Loup and Wauneta-Palisade.

Matches begin at 9 a.m.