Tigers take Cedar Mt. along on roller coaster rideSpringfield gets second win in three-game sweep

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

SPRINGFIELD -- The roller coaster ride was finally fun for the Springfield Tigers volleyball team.

Using that description for the season so far, Tigers coach Lincoln Robinson watched his squad win their second match of the year by sweeping the Cedar Mountain Cougars 25-21, 26-24, 26-24.

"I told our girls we made it harder on ourselves than we had to," said Robinson. "We still have a problem with consistency. We ride a roller coaster every night. We just need to find good rhythm. We've dropped three five-game matches in the conference so far. Hopefully, we'll make a late season run."

Cougars coach Heather Thiesen saw her team take six and seven point leads in games one and two and come back from an eight point deficit in game three, but still come away empty for the evening.

"We just have to find a way to put the nail in the coffin and break their back instead of our own," Thiesen said of her 3-4 team. "They work hard, they really try. In order to get over the hump, it's tough. If we could get a break, it could turn around a game, a match, a season. We need for all of us to step up. It's just that tenseness that comes at a crucial time."

Other than the Tigers' Tori Jones opening kill, the Cougars led most of game one, at one point enjoying 15-9 and 20-14 leads. Then Springfield's Krystal Schwanke blocked a kill attempt, the Cougars committed two straight unforced errors and Tiffany Wilhelmi had two aces to make it 20-19.

A Schwanke tip kill three plays later tied it at 21-21 and the Tigers scored four in a row, ending with an ace by Katlin McNutt and a tip kill by Alissa Domeier to take game one. The Cougars started game two on fire with consecutive aces by Kelly Gewerth, three kills by Megan Madsen and two kills by Shana Grejtak and eventually a 9-2 lead.

Cedar Mountain kept up the pressure, playing well enough to grab a 19-11 margin. Then, just as in game one, the Tigers slowly mounted a comeback. A major reason was Schwanke, who was responsible for four kills and a kill block to pull Springfield to within three, 23-20. A kill by Jones, a kill block by Domeier and an out of bounds hit by the Cougars knotted the game at 23-23.

It was 24-24 when the Cougars "broke their own back" hitting the ball into the net and then out of bounds to give the Tigers their 26-24 victory. "I like the fact we came back and didn't give up," said Robinson.

But game three saw the tables turned as the Tigers took a commanding lead and watched the Cougars mount a furious comeback. Cedar Mountain clearly looked out of sorts early in the game as they dropped to a 15-7 deficit. Then the Cougars went on a 10-2 run that tied the game at 17-17.

It was tied again at 20-20 when the Tigers committed three straight unforced errors and Amanda Hoffbeck contributed a kill to put the Cougars to within a point of victory, 24-22. However, the Tigers didn't look back after that, getting kills by Schwanke and Domeier and two aces by McNutt to seal the sweep.

Schwanke led the Tigers with 12 kills and five ace blocks, while Domeier had six kills and two ace blocks. Amanda Lipetzky had 13 set assists, while McNutt contributed 13 service points and three aces. Naomi Timm had eight service points, while Brianne Hoyt had nine set assists and five service points.

For the Cougars, Grejtak had nine kills, while Madsen had five blocks, two aces and was 16-for-16 from the service line. Kelly Gewerth was 17-for-17 from the service line with four aces and fifteen digs and Ashley Gewerth had 17 digs.

The Tigers move to 2-7-2 overall, 1-4 in the Tomahawk Conference, while Cedar Mountain drops to 3-4, 1-4.

In B-squad action, the Cougars swept the Tigers 25-20, 25-7.

Springfield will be competing in the Sibley East Tournament on Saturday, while Cedar Mountain hosts Buffalo Lake/Hector next Tuesday night at 7:30.

Dave Clark can be reached at sports@nujournal.com.