Feeling blocked

Manitowoc Lincoln girls volleyball coach Mary Beth Dixon said after Thursday night's win over Sheboygan South that she would like to see her team improve its blocking. Of course, no coach is ever completely satisfied and Dixon wasn't being critical of her squad's blocking, she just wants the Ships to do it more and better.

I was pretty impressed with what I saw at the net from the Ships, both on Thursday and in last week's win over Green Bay Preble. Courtney Mrotek is proving to be a dominant player defensively at the net and emphatically thwarted a number of spikes by the Redwings.

But I've seen many volleyball teams with one dominant blocker and when that player rotates to the back row -- or subs out after playing the front row -- there is no one to put up much resistance. The thing that impressed me about the Ships is that no matter who was at the net, they were able to stuff South's spikes or at least get a hand on many of their attempts.

With Mrotek leading the way with seven blocks (she seemed to have at least double that), Stephanie Decker and Geena McLaughlin each added six, Alyssa Olson had a couple as did Hailey Virnoche. Pretty much whoever Dixon had playing in the front row seemed to have one or two.

And it's not like Lincoln is loaded with 6-foot-2, long-armed players. But all of the Ships jump well, can move smoothly at the net and seem to have a knack for it.

To me, stuffing an opponent's spike -- especially, if it's the other team's top hitter -- is much more of a momentum boost than ripping off a big kill and the Ships should be able to do plenty of that this season.