The Jesuit Crusaders completed a three-set 25-20, 25-17, 25-8 sweep over the Sunset Apollos Tuesday night. KGW caught up with two of the team's middle blockers, Ariana Wiltjer and Jasmine Gross, to learn how they assess their defensive performances, and how the team is approaching the rest of the season with state championship hopes.
1.) How do you think the team played tonight?
Wiltjer: "We started off on a slower start. We weren't playing our game. But, we definitely picked it up and started playing more at our level."
Gross: "Sunset played hard. I think it was a good match for us.
Wiltjer: "They're a really good team. They definitely fought their hardest, they're talented."
2.) What do you think led to the slow start in the first set?
Wiltjer: "We just started slowly for us. Once we got more energy and came together as a team, we picked it up more. It was a little bit difficult in the beginning just to get it going."
3.) Were there any adjustments you made?
Wiltjer: "We picked up the speed. That's definitely one of our strengths. We picked up our passing."
Gross: "I would say our passing was really good tonight. We could finally start to get the balls out to the hitters and the hitter could kill the balls. It was just more cohesive for the last two games."
4.) You are both middle blockers. How do you assess how your playing defensively up front?
Wiltjer: "Sometimes are job isn't to block the actual ball, but to take away an area for our defense. If our defense is doing well, then we can do well."
Gross: "A lot of it has to do with passing. We can be really aggressive at the net too, and that will definitely help us, and that's what we kind of did tonight. We were aggressive at the net and we kind of faked out some of the hitters on the other side."
5.) Which would you rather have: A block or a kill?
Wiltjer & Gross: "Either!"
What if you had to only choose one?
Gross: "A really good block feels really good, but then a really good hit also feels really good."
Wiltjer: "You can't really choose between the two because when you're a middle blocker those are both of your jobs."
Gross: "They're like two totally different things. That's like asking a setter if they would rather have a perfect set or a perfect ace. You can't choose between them."
6.) The team hasn't lost a set yet this year. Is that something you're taking pride in now or are you just going about your business and the results will come?
Gross: "I think we're going along, playing our game. We're working hard in practice every day. It's awesome not to lose a set, but at the same time we can't get caught up on that. We have to work hard every day at practice."
Wiltjer: "Our mentality just has to be working on ourselves and not worrying about who our opponent is. That's what we're really worried about right now. Not the past, just our upcoming games. Just improving on ourselves."
Gross: "Because no matter what people say, we definitely all know what we can work on. Everyone on the team has stuff that they can work on."
7.) You have high aspirations for November. What do you need to work on to achieve those aspirations?
Wiltjer: "We're just focusing on the little things, like passing it up on the net so that we can utilize all of our hitters. We're definitely working on our serving right now.
Gross: "The timing for hitting for sure. Speeding up everything. So, passes getting sharper, hitting getting sharper, blocking getting faster. I think we hope everything will come together by November. I think we can definitely pick up the pace."
Wiltjer: "Basically just cleaning up every aspect of our game."
The 14-0 Crusaders will look to continue their streak without losing a set at Aloha Thursday night. Jesuit swept the Warriors earlier this season.
