Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Senior Grace Behrens of Fort Dodge hits the ball over the net on Tuesday against Marshalltown. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The message delivered by new head coach Beth Wilder to her Fort Dodge volleyball team following Tuesday night’s season-opening loss to Marshalltown was simple: Improve each day.

Scores were 25-19, 26-24 and 25-18 in favor of the Bobcats.

“I told the girls that we have to be better in terms of errors,” said Wilder, who is a co-head coach alongside Julie Astor. “Volleyball is a game of mental toughness and who makes fewer errors.

“We committed a lot of mistakes but at the same time, I did see some plenty of positives from them. We just need more of those moments and less of the errors.”

Senior Meah McCaleb led the way for the Dodgers with five kills, while freshman Grace Nichols added four. Junior LJ Maehl and 12th-grader Braxtyn Dencklau each had three, with senior Grace Behrens adding two.

Fort Dodge had eight serving aces behind two each from Lacey Larson, Ellie Doster and Maeleena Meyer. Maehl also tallied three blocks.

“It felt like we just didn’t have much rhythm,” Wilder said. “Some of that is it being the first match and trying to figure things out with our rotations. We’ll keep working and we’ll get it.

“I’m also constantly learning as a coach. In volleyball, you have to be that way because of so many variables in play.”

Marshalltown scored the first four points of the match to take charge in the opening set, building 9-3, 15-6 and 21-13 advantages before putting the Dodgers away. The second set went a similar route, as the Bobcats led by as many as eight points before a late rally by Fort Dodge tightened things up.

McCaleb reeled off back-to-back aces during a 5-1 run that resulted in a 23-23 tie. Marshalltown, though, would tally three of the final four points to take a 2-0 match lead.

An ace by Doster to begin the third resulted in the first lead of the night for the Dodgers, but that was quickly erased by a five-point run from the Bobcats.

“Like I said, we had flashes,” Wilder said. “We just need to become better with that on a more regular basis.”

The win by Marshalltown was the first over Fort Dodge in five meetings dating back to the 2021 season.

Up next for the Dodgers will be a tournament in Humboldt. Joining the host Wildcats and Fort Dodge will be South Central Calhoun, South Hardin and Carroll Kuemper with matches beginning at 9 a.m.

The Fort Dodge JV2 picked up 25-23, 25-18 set wins. The JV1 fell by scores of 25-27, 25-15, 15-11.

The Dodger freshman lost four sets: 21-18, 21-13, 21-19 and 21-13.