MVL comes close to upsetting BLH

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- They had their chance. The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers were on the verge of capturing the momentum and turning it into another upset of the Buffalo Lake-Hector Mustangs.

But the heat and the Mustangs' hitting took a toll. Class 1A No. 5 BLH staved off the upset bid by the Chargers, taking a 15-10, 12-15, 15-9, 15-7 win in Tomahawk Conference volleyball Thursday night.

"That's something we need to work on -- the killer instinct," MVL coach Julie Detjen said. "That needs working on, that sense of urgency, going for the jugular. We need to be a little stronger."

With the match tied at one game each, MVL (1-2, 0-1 Tomahawk), fought back from a 6-2 deficit to level the third game at 8. But the Mustangs (2-0, 1-0) scored eight of the next nine points to recapture the momentum.

"It was hot," BLH coach Susan Alstrom said. "In the last couple of games, whoever got the momentum going was going to come out on top. They're a good team ... but heat and the fatigue led to mental lapses."

On both sides. The Mustangs' lapses allowed the Chargers to win the second game.

MVL shot out to a 6-0 lead. Three of the Chargers' points in the run came off BLH errors.

MVL extended its advantage to 12-2. Seniors Angie Unke and Danielle Kramer each got kills in the string, but BLH also commmitted three errors, including a service receive error and a passing error.

The Mustangs fought back and closed the gap to 12-10 on a string of five straight points on the serve of junior Leah Burgstahler. Junior Kayla Ilgen ignited the run with a kill down the left side and two MVL errors narrowed the margin to 12-8.

Junior Kristen Raitz cut the MVL lead to 12-9 with a soft kill. When Emily Buck's attack sailed wide, the deficit was just two points. But BLH relapsed, committing a passing error to give serve back to the Chargers.

Two more passing errors gave the second game to the Chargers.

"That doesn't happen to us very often," Alstrom said. "In an intense situation, you're looking for someone else to play the ball. You've got to have more confidence, you've got to want the ball."

The heat was a factor in those mental lapses, Alstrom said. And when the Mustangs had problems, they really had problems. Several balls fell to the floor and there were times the Mustangs were running into each other.

"We weren't talking," freshman outside hitter Leah Ashburn said. "I guess it was the fatigue. It just comes and goes."

But when they were on, the Mustangs were nearly unstoppable.

"We were pretty much doing what we wanted to do," Ashburn said.

Raitz led BLH with a match-high 17 kills. Burgstahler added 12 kills and Leah Ashburn recorded seven kills.

"She (Leah Ashburn) plays real hard us," Alstrom said. "She can come in and play the outside and the middle. And defensively, she plays pretty well. ... She's a student of volleyball."

Kramer led the Chargers with eight kills. Junior Kelsey Black and Unke each contributed seven kills.

Buck had 26 set assists to lead MVL and Holly Enter had 12 set assists. Monica Ashburn led the Mustangs with 35 set assists.

In the decisive fourth game, BLH grabbed a 7-1 lead with four of the Mustangs' points coming off MVL errors. The Chargers cut the lead to 10-6 and 11-7, but three straight errors put the Mustangs up 14-7 and Ilgen ended the match with a kill through the block of Buck.

"The heat -- I know it was huge for us," Detjen said. "They were going full out. I couldn't ask them to give much more. Some of them were cramping up."

Still, Detjen wasn't unhappy.

"I thought it was great, it was fun," she said. "We played our best overall match of the three. Our defense is showing a lot of improvement."

BLH will meet Rosemount in the first round of the Apple Valley tournament Friday. The tournament will continue Saturday.

MVL will play in the tournament at Sleepy Eye High Saturday.