Indians defeat unorganized Cougar team

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Sleepy Eye made quick work of Cedar Mountain and won 25-13, 25-19, 25-14 Thursday night in Tomahawk Conference volleyball action.

Ashley Roiger led the Indians with 10 service points, including six ace serves.

"I don't really know if we were really mentally ready for this," Cedar Mountain coach Heather Thiesen said. "There wasn't too much communication happening and [too many] dropped balls. We're not that strong of a volleyball team that we can have mental breakdowns like we did tonight."

Cedar Mountain went up 4-1 in the first game, but Sleepy Eye scored eight straight points to go up 9-4.

Later, Charlotte McMullen's kill gave the Indians a 17-8 lead. Trista Belseth's kill gave the Indians a 21-9 lead, but Cedar Mountain's Megan Madsen came back with a kill of her own to make it 21-10. Sleepy Eye held on to win 25-13.

Kristi Schieffert's ace serve broke the second game open for the Indians, giving Sleepy Eye a 9-4 lead. Amanda Hoffbeck's tip broke the Sleepy Eye momentum and made it 11-5.

Sleepy Eye went up 18-10, but Emily Nelson's ace serve and a Kelly Gewerth tip made it 18-13.

The teams battled back and forth the rest of the way and Roiger finished the game with an ace, giving Sleepy Eye a 25-19 win.

"I think our serving was really tough tonight," Sleepy Eye coach Kris Bloedel said. "We were able to hit spots and together we played good as a team. We struggled on Tuesday, and we had a long talk yesterday and decided that we needed to work on teamwork and hustle."

Sleepy Eye jumped out to a big lead early in the third game after Jessie Zuhlsdorf's kill made it 4-0. McMullen followed with an ace serve and Zuhlsdorf's ace tip made it 6-0. McMullen then recorded another ace, giving the Indians an 8-0 lead before Cedar Mountain scored its first point.

Katie Gewerth's kill brought Cedar Mountain to within 9-3, but Roiger went on another streak, this time recording eight straight to give the Indians a huge lead.

"Last week we played GFW and Wabasso -- two tough teams -- and we saw some quicker things that we weren't used to, so we made some adjustments here and there," Bloedel said. "We ran a little bit different rotation tonight and it worked tonight."

After a time-out, Roiger had two more ace serves to give the Indians a 20-4 lead. Cedar Mountain made a late comeback, but Sleepy Eye held on to win 25-14.

For Sleepy Eye, Zuhlsdorf finished with six kills and five digs. Schieffert had eight kills, three service points and 10 digs. McMullen had nine service points and four kills.

For Cedar Mountain, Jessica Dolezal finished with 15 set assists and Katie Gewerth and Amanda Hoffbeck each had six kills.

Emily Nelson went nine-for-nine serving with an ace and Megan Madsen had three ace blocks.

Cedar Mountain (3-5, 0-5) is at Buffalo Lake-Hector Tuesday. Sleepy Eye (7-3, 2-3) hosts Springfield Tuesday.