Seabury Academy volleyball coach Craig Friedrichsen found it hard to associate the word “strong” with his team’s serving and attacking after its two losses during Tuesday’s home triangular.

The Seahawks fell to Marais Des Cygnes Valley, 23-25, 25-14, 25-14, and to Oskaloosa, 25-11, 25-16.

“We didn’t make it hard enough for them to return serves,” Friedrichsen said. “It was too easy for them to return serves. And both teams had some girls that stood back there and rocked serves at us – we don’t have any of them that do that. We don’t have that big overpowering server.”

It was obvious the Seahawks’ success was going to be channeled around the net when they picked up 10 kills in their first game of the evening, their only victory. The squad couldn’t come near to matching that single-game total as it had 10 kills over the next three games and four to finish the night.

“You can’t win if you don’t kill the ball – especially against teams like Oskie and Marais Des Cygnes,” Friedrichsen said. “You’ve got to be able to hit the ball to the floor. If you give them free balls, they turn it around and hit it at us hard.”

Molly Thurman attacked the net just 17 times against the Trojans – a number Friedrichsen said should double. The Seahawks also got little attacking from Melissa Burch because of a need for a change in their defensive strategy.

Seabury Academy's Liz Hughes, left, and Bria Phipps reach high to block a shot by Marais Des Cygnes Valley's Jamie Rice. Seabury lost to Marais Des Cygnes Valley and Oskaloosa during Tuesday night's home triangular.

“We moved Melissa Burch over to the right side – which is a good move defensively. She had just one block against Oskaloosa, but she touched a lot of balls,” Friedrichsen said. “But then, I lose her hitting from the left side. If I move her back to the left side, I don’t have anyone to block the right side. And that’s where the other team’s power hitter is coming from.”

Oskaloosa escaped the three-team event with the victory over Seabury and a 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory over Marais Des Cygnes Valley with a balanced attack from the net and the serving line.

Kayla Newell led the Bears with five aces in their match with the Trojans. Lindsey Ottensmier matched that number in the Seabury bout.

Ali Hauk finished with 11 kills combined for the two matches – six coming against Seabury, which was still one less than Nicole Rockhold’s seven to lead the squad.

However, the kills didn’t exactly come easy for Oskaloosa, as the passing between players had its moments.

“We really struggled with our passing,” Oskaloosa coach Tosha Landau said. “We couldn’t get our passes to our setter (Emily Heston) and run our offense. If our serve receiving struggles then we struggle, because we can’t run our offense. So as long as we have our passes we do very good.”