Cathedral takes SESM to the wireChargers win

after five games

By MINDY KLINKNER

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- After a long homecoming week, Minnesota Valley Lutheran was battling fatigue and illness but still pulled off the Tomahawk Conference volleyball win 25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 15-11 over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's.

On Tuesday, the Chargers lost many of the longer rallies despite coach Julie Detjen's changes in substitution in order to keep the girls fresh.

"We expected it to be close," Detjen said. "St. Mary's has been playing well lately. They were trying to hit our weak spots and were digging up a storm."

Raina Walter led the Knights' defense with 18 digs. Sadie Sabatino had 14 digs.

"We play scrappy and work on digging," St. Mary's leading hitter Krista Armbruster said.

Armbruster and Walter put up good stats against a much taller Charger team producing 20 and 15 kills respectively. Armbruster also had five blocks. Amanda Helget had 42 set assists.

"We knew we had to come in and challenge," St. Mary's coach Stef Whittet said.

In Game 1, the Knights had the lead much of the time before allowing MVL to rally back and win the game on Knight errors.

"We like to get the lead and then sit back on our heels and watch for awhile," Whittet said. "It's something we had to work on."

In the second game, the Chargers used the momentum from a first-game win to jump out to a 7-3 lead. St. Mary's challenged back with kills by Armbruster.

In both Game 3 and Game 4 neither team had more than a two-point lead before pulling away with several points left.

MVL had the lead throughout the fifth game and sealed the final points with an ace serve by Karissa Kramer and a double block by Jessica Beckendorf and Eva Voss.

"Coach [Sara] Gieseke said to block and we did," Voss said about what was said during the final time-out. Voss and Beckendorf finished with five blocks each.

Nerves got to Sabatino, who has been serving 93 percent this season, and she served the ball into the net for the final point giving the Chargers the win.

Beckendorf had 11 kills for MVL. Voss had nine kills and Kelsey Black and Nicki Flygare had seven kills each.

Black had 18 digs, Holly Enter had 17 set assists and Andrea Ring had 13 assists.

MVL (11-1-1, 5-1 in the Tomahawk) hosts New Ulm Cathedral Thursday.

The Knights (6-6, 2-5 in the Tomahawk) host Granada-Huntley-East Chain Monday.