St. Mary's tops Cathedral

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The girls volleyball match Tuesday night between Sleepy Eye St. Mary's and New Ulm Cathedral was a showdown between teams learning the process.

The Knights won 15-13, 15-4,1-15, 15-12, but it seemed both squads are still dealing with the effects of graduation as they try to find a comfort zone within their team.

"We lost a lot," said SESM coach Becky Mathiowetz. "But minus the third game, I thought we played well tonight. The girls kept their head up and fought hard. We struggled when Emily Schroepfer was in the back (instead of at middle hitter) but I think we did a wonderful job of sticking together and playing as a team."

The Greyhounds, while full of fight, won't be worrying so much about the score as the volleyball experience learning curve.

"We're trying to find the right combinations," said NUC coach Karan Whitmyer. "But there's no pressure on us right now. The process is more important than the end product."

The end product of the first game was a feeling that if the match went five games, it might last until midnight. The Knights and Greyhounds tied seven times, and neither led by more than two points. At 13-13, NUC lifted the ball in the net, and seven serves later, Schroepfer hit the kill for the razor close Knights win.

The Knights ran off to an 8-0 lead in the second game, as kills by Ashley Meyer, Schroepfer and Annie Suker combined with five Greyhounds mistakes. An ace later by Jamie Eickhoff put the Knights lead at 12-4, and three more defensive miscues by NUC led to the 15-4 SESM win.

"I was very impressed with the way we played the second game," said Mathiowetz.

Game three saw the tables turn completely from the second game as it was the Greyhounds turn to almost shut out the Knights. SESM hit five balls into the net, but three kills from Amber Franta, and one each from Jessica Lewis, Liesl Genelin, and Mary Hazuka helped instill some life into the Greyhounds en route to the 15-1 win.

"We got comfortable and couldn't get it over the net," said Mathiowetz.

But the good times didn't last for NUC, as they have quickly discovered an early season nemesis: getting down by a number of points.

"We can't dig ourselves deep holes," said Whitmyer. "We get down five, six, seven points, and it's tough for us to come back."

Four kills by Schroepfer and errors on defense by the Greyhounds quickly gave the Knights a 8-1 lead in the final game. Four mistakes by the Knights allowed the Greyhounds to cut the lead to 8-5.

A kill by Jonalyn Cook and a NUC ball into the net opened up a 10-5 Knight lead. But two out of bounds hits by the Knights, plus a kill block and two other defensive lapses by SESM knotted the game at 10-10.

With the score at 13-12 SESM, the ball went off a Cathedral defender, followed by an ace by Suker that ended the evening for the Greyhounds.

Leaders for the Knights were Schroepfer with 13 ace hits andfour ace tips. Sarah Haala contributed 17 set assists and eight digs,

For the Greyhounds, Kristin Beranek was 19 of 20 from the service line, plus 21 set assists. Jessica Lewis was 12 of 14 from the line, while Nikki Fischer had 12 set assists. Amber Franta and Katie Gieseke each had five ace hits, while Prarie Hady had four.

The Knights are now 2-0 and go crosstown to face Sleepy Eye Public on Thursday, while NUC drops to 0-2 and heads to Springfield Thursday.