Jackson VB sweeps Ste. Genevieve for first home win of 2023

The Jackson volleyball team opened the home slate of the 2023 season with a 3-0 sweep over Ste. Genevieve (25-15, 25-9, 25-15) on Monday, August 28, in Jackson, Missouri.

It was a rebound win after starting the season with a road loss to Class 4 runner-up Incarnate Word on August 26.

"Incarnate Word has got a really, really good team," Jackson coach Dave Mirly said. "We played hard, and we did some good things, but we made a lot of mistakes. [Monday] We really wanted to come out and clean things up and fix a lot of our mistakes. The girls were really focused on making up for the loss on Saturday, and we really made things really hard on Ste. Gen."

Nadia Wasilewski led the Indians with 10 kills. That much was expected from the senior leader, who is set to play college ball at Wichita State next year. However, she had plenty of support from Ella Domain and Katy St. John, who had nine kills a piece.

"We have lots of weapons on offense for kills," Mirly said. "Katie last year led us and kills. Ella is right there knocking on the door leading us in kills, and Nadia so far this season is leading us in kills. So we have three legit high-level varsity players who can all get kills for us on any night. So that's good. And then we got Christa [Vandeven] and Sidnie [Floyd] in the middle who had the highest percentage of anyone on the team. So we have lots of weapons and we like to use all of them."

The goal for the Indians was to get a clean sweep for their first win. It wasn't until midway through the second game, where that goal felt reachable for Jackson.

"As soon as we got into the flow of the game, we started passing really well," Mirly said. "I knew if we passed really well, they would have a hard time with all of our good hitters. We started passing really well after about the first five minutes of the game. That's when I knew that it was probably going to be a long night for Ste. Gen.

The Indians are coming off their third straight 30-win season and fourth straight district title. The Class of 2024 has only known winning, but this is the year where they strive for a trip to the final four.

"It's a lot different because you know all the starters are one year more mature," Mirly said. "They're all seniors this year, so they have a sense of urgency. They've really come together. They work extremely hard. They do a lot of the little things great, which they did last year, but I'm noticing this group just has something else about them because I think it's just a big group of seniors, and they know that this is their last one. You know, one of the seniors said the other day 'This is our last first game.' And then [Monday] one of them said 'This is our last first home game.' So they understand the importance of it, and they want to make the most of every moment."

Jackson hits the road for three games and a tournament. The Indians will travel to Dexter on Thursday, August 31.