Wabasso outlasts Eagles

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The Wabasso Rabbits were carrion. The New Ulm High Eagles were swooping in for the kill.

Down two games to none and down 13-8 in the third game, Wabasso finally showed life, rallying to win the third game, then taking the final two games for a 7-15, 16-18, 15-13, 15-6, 15-7 win over the Eagles in nonconference volleyball Monday night.

"We started out slow, it looked like a Monday," Wabasso coach Val Oftedahl said. "We had a couple of big hits, a couple of big saves (in the third game), and I think we felt some desperation. We knew we had to bring it together or it wasn't going to happen tonight."

It happened because of Amanda Frank and sophomore Brandi Wurscher, who combined for 40 Rabbit kills. Frank -- a 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter -- led Wabasso (7-4) with a match-high 23 kills.

Senior Annie Moore led the Rabbits with 46 set assists.

"We've been struggling," Frank said. "We knew we had to start pulling together as a team. We started building our confidence and we started talking."

Talking was something the Rabbits were not doing when they started. New Ulm High (1-8) owned the first game, thanks largely to Wabasso errors. Eagles junior middle blocker Jodi Schmidt also took advantage of the Rabbits' nonexistent block, recording four of her team-high 14 kills, including two back-to-back soft kills that upped New Ulm High's margin 14-7.

Wabasso went down 18-16 in game two, but fought hard, getting eight kills each from Frank and Wurscher in a game that lasted nearly 55 minutes. Wabasso led 16-15 before the Eagles picked up points on a double hit violation and a Rabbit passing error to set up Allison Boddy's ace down the right sideline for the winner.

"It was the ultimate frustrating loss," New Ulm High coach Paul Meyer said. "I thought we played pretty solid ball. I thought we came out pretty well, especially offensively. We played well."

The extended third game didn't appear to take anything out of the Eagles. New Ulm High led most of the way after an early 3-0 Wabasso margin and was within two points of closing out the match at 13-8.

Wabasso then ran off six straight points to take a 14-13 lead behind the serve of Frank, capitalizing upon Eagle errors before Wurscher notched a kill to give the Rabbits a one-point advantage. The two sides then traded sides out before Wabasso got the game on an Eagle passing error.

The fourth and fifth games were all Wabasso. The Rabbits got out 3-0 on New Ulm High in the fourth and slowly advanced the lead to 11-6 before Frank served out the game, getting points on two Eagle hitting errors, a kill by Tara Trost and then an ace to the backline by Frank to tie the match at 2-all.

Wabasso in the fifth game again jumped on top 3-0 before New Ulm High responded to tie the game at 4-all when Tiffany Drill rejected Wurscher's kill attempt. The Rabbits then won 11 of the next 14 points, getting a pair of kills from Frank in the final run, including the match-winning smack straight down into the Eagles' front court.

"I started kind of slow, these Monday matches, we start kind of slow," Frank said. "Then we started pulling together. A lot of it had to do with our passes. We haven't really had a set offense, so we were kind of confused at first."

In addition to the confusion, Oftedahl saw something else wrong.

"We just weren't playing our game at all," she said. "We were standing around watching things happen instead of making things happen."

Once the Rabbits started making things happen in the third game, the Eagles just couldn't fly fast enough.

"We just wanted it really bad," Wurscher said. "We didn't pick it up until we knew we had to. It means a lot. It was just awesome, it was so much fun."

But not for the Eagles, who maybe thought the Rabbits were dead meat.

"As the match went on, we weren't aggressive in all areas," Meyer said. "There wasn't a major letdown or a major change, just a little bit. But those little bits add up and you end up losing a tough five-game match.

Wabasso will play McLeod West in Brownton tonight. New Ulm High will host Blue Earth Area Thursday night.