Chargers sweep Springfield

Black hammers 10 kills, Enter delivers 15 assists

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For the second match in a row, Minnesota Valley Lutheran jumped out to big leads early in all three games and for the second match in a row, the Chargers swept their opponent in three games.

MVL defeated Springfield 25-12, 25-10, 25-22 in Tomahawk Conference volleyball action Thursday.

MVL's Kelsey Black led the way with 10 kills and two blocks. Coming into the game, Springfield knew that the Chargers had a strong net presence and that it would try to contain the Chargers in order to win.

"We were trying to stay really hyped up, because we knew that they had some really good hitters and they have very good blockers," Springfield freshman middle hitter Krystal Schwanke said. "We've been working on our blocks and we finally got it down [later in the match]." Schwanke finished with four kills, three blocks and three tips.

Eva Voss' kill tied the score after a 20 minute break in the first game because Springfield served out of rotation. The Chargers later went up 15-7, highlighted by a Jessica Beckendorf kill and block, Holly Enter's ace serve, and Karissa Kramer's tip. Beckendorf finished with seven kills and two blocks.

Later, Andrea Ring's ace serve made it 23-10. Black finished the game with two kills to end it at 25-12.

"We knew that they were going to be big and we felt that there were some spots that we could try to take advantage of," Springfield coach Lincoln Robinson said. "But we knew that we couldn't pass badly against them and we did that quite a few times."

In the second game, Katie Dolan went on a 10-point scoring spree that opened the game up for the Chargers. During that stretch, Black had an ace block and three kills to give the Chargers a 14-4 lead.

Later an Angie Ristow ace and a Ruth Olson tip made it 23-9, and Beckendorf's kill down the left baseline ended the game at 25-10.

The third game was the closest, but it looked like MVL was going to cruise to another early victory.

Stephanie Reagles' ace serve made the score 10-5 and a Ruth Olsen kill made it 13-8. But Kim Weedman's cross-court smash made it 15-12 and the Tigers came to within one with Abby Meine at the service line, making it 15-14. Weedman finished with three kills.

A tip by Beckendorf and two service aces by Ring widened the gap to 18-14, but once again the Tigers crawled back and eventually took a 21-20 lead on Weedman's ace serve.

With the game tied at 22, Voss delivered a kill and a block, giving the Chargers a 24-22 lead. MVL hung on to win 25-22.

"We didn't get a lot of solid opportunities quite often tonight, so we tried to make the most of the chances we got," MVL coach Julie Detjen said. "Springfield was struggling with their passing, so there were a lot of free balls out there tonight, so not a lot of chances for my front row to get good touches."

For Springfield, Meine had six service points, two aces and four set assists. Naomi Timm had six service points and an ace serve.

For the Chargers, Voss had four kills and three blocks and Olson had two blocks. Dolan and Ring each had four ace serves and Enter finished with 15 set assists. Dolan had eight set assists. Kramer and Meredith Browne had five digs.

Springfield (2-6-1) hosts McLeod West Tuesday.

MVL (7-1-1) travels to Morgan to face Cedar Mountain Tuesday.

BLH 3, Cathedral 0

HECTOR -- Buffalo Lake-Hector defeated New Ulm Cathedral 25-16, 25-11, 25-12 in Tomahawk Conference volleyball action Thursday.

For BLH, Leah Burgstahler had 14 kills and Leah Ashburn had11 kills. Kristin Raitz had seven kills and Monica Ashburn had 32 set assists.

For Cathedral, Nikki Fischer had 15 set assists. Toni Hall had two blocks and two ace tips.

Cathedral (4-4, 1-2) hosts Wabasso Tuesday.

Fairmont 3, New Ulm 2

NEW ULM -- New Ulm played five games against Fairmont, but lost in the fifth with 26-24, 21-25, 22-25, 25-14 and 11-16.

Mary Otis had 13 kills and digs, 18 blocks and three ace serves. Amber Bianchi had 18 digs and nine kills. Mandy Blank had 23 set assists and Ashley Hoffman had 12. Coresa Leighty had four aces.

The Eagles' (1-5,1-2) next game is the Fairmont Tournament on Saturday and then a home match on Tuesday against Blue Earth.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 3, McLeod West 0

BROWNTON -- Sleepy Eye St. Mary's defeated Tomahawk Conference foe McLeod West 25-8, 25-14, 25-14 Thursday.

For Sleepy Eye, Amanda Helget had nine service points, five aces and 15 set assists. Krista Armbruster had 11 aces.

McLeod West (1-8, 0-3) plays Tuesday at Springfield

Sleepy Eye (3-2, 1-2)plays on Saturday at the Jackson County Central Invitational.

Wabasso 3,

Cedar Mountain 0

WABASSO -- Wabasso won all three of their games as they beat Cedar Mountain 25-18, 25-14, and 25-19 Wednesday.

Katie Schumacher led the Wabasso team with four ace blocks, 26-for-28 hits with nine kills and eight set assists. Casey Riley was 12-for-13 serving with nine points. Jessica VanLoy was 11-for-11 serving with eight points and nine digs. Chelsea Wagner also had nine digs. Melissa Plaetz was 10-for-10 serving with six points and also 14-for-14 hits with seven kills. Tara Altermatt had eight set assists.

For Cedar Mountain, Jessica Dolezal served 17-for-18 with eight points. Sam Madsen had five ace hits.

Cedar Mountain (2-3) plays at Comfrey Monday. Wabasso's (11-1, 3-0). Minneota hosts Wabasso on Monday.

Maple River 3, Nicollet 0

NICOLLET -- Maple River (3-2, 1-1) defeated Nicollet (1-4, 0-2) 25-18, 25-15 and 25-16 Thursday.

Bridget Hulke had 10 digs and Becky Rernau had 10 set assists for Nicollet. For Maple River, Joelle Shouts had 11 assists while Amy DeWitz had 13.

Shouts also went 18-for-18 on serving. Laura Girard had 11 kills and Sami Maurer had 10 kills.

Nicollet plays at the Montgomery tournament Saturday.