Muncie Burris and Alexandria-Monroe battled it out tonight at the historic Ball Gymnasium. The Owls swept the match 3-0 en route to a win boosting their record on the season to 6-0. With the loss, Alexandria dropped to 1-4 on the season.
Burris got off to a hot start thanks to junior Emi Cukrowicz serving up five aces early. Head coach Jim Craig praised the serving efforts of his squad tonight.
“I thought we served okay tonight,” he said. “That kind of always gets things going for any team early in games if they can get some points off of serves. We had a few miscues we weren't happy with, but all in all, we served okay.”
The hot start rolled into a convincing win in set one for Burris. After allowing six early points from Alexandria, the Owls kicked it into high gear and settled into their game. Craig feels like the team runs through their middle hitters and when they click, things go well.
“The key to our team is our middles,” he said. “You have to be able to get the middles engaged in what’s going on, which is just hot and cold for us. Sometimes they’re in, sometimes they’re not. Early on this season, they’re off more often than on but that’s part of it with a young roster early on [in the season].”
With the Owls being such a young team, the three senior leaders have had to step up in more ways than one. Leading a team with seven underclassmen comes with its challenges.
“Since we have a lot of underclassmen, we just have to lead more by example,” senior Lilly Howell said. “We just have to show them the right way to do things more often than having to tell them and there’s less to be vocal about.”
Although the experience of those underclassmen is low, the skill is not. Sophomore JaMaria Jackson was a key piece to the Burris win tonight with multiple kills and points scored for the Owls.
“All the underclassmen know what they’re doing on the court,” Howell said. “... They’re all really amazing players. They are great contributors to the team, just like JaMaria was tonight. They just haven’t been here as long and are still learning the ropes and stuff like that.”
Another key contributor tonight from the serving line was junior Mya Trammell. Trammell is fresh off of surgery to repair an ACL tear this winter. Coach Craig is glad to even have her on the court, let alone playing the way she is from the outside hitter position.
“Tonight I thought our outsides did pretty well, especially Mya,” he said. “Mya is a kid that came off of ACL surgery back in the winter and I wasn’t even expecting her to be able to stand and hit the ball but she’s really stuck with it. She’s pretty incredible to watch play.
The second set saw similar action to the first. A quick start from Alexandria that was fueled by some Burris miscues. Alexandria quickly sizzled out though and Burris came through with another convincing set at 25-12.
“We just have so many small errors,” Craig said. “I’m not sure they realize the gravity of those mistakes early on in games like that ... Being young we can afford those now, but when it comes to late season we have to dial it in and play through the middle like we practice.”
The third set saw another fast start from Alexandria, scoring the first five points of the final set. The Owls yet again prevailed and won set three 25-17.
The wealth was distributed in the final set with some starters taking a seat.
“We lost a lot last year with our six seniors graduating but we’re rebuilding really strong right now,” Howell said. “We have the talent and they just need the experience and reps. We have all the pieces but we’re still working on putting them together. I think once we do that we’re going to be a hard team to stop.”
With the 6-0 start, Burris looks to build this into another dominant season and an eventual state championship. Although there is the pressure of continuing the winning tradition at Burris, Howell finds that pressure a privilege.
“Everyone always says, bring back the Burris tradition and we’re doing everything we can to bring it back,” she said. “It is a lot of pressure but I think it’s a great pressure, I think it keeps our intensity level really high and I think it helps us play at a high level and will lead us to a state championship this year. I think we strive for that pressure and live for the moment, so hopefully we find ourselves back at Worthen.”
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or on X at @_loganconnor
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