Cathedral sweeps McLeod West

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds volleyball team discovered a new method of energy conservation Tuesday night.

They swept the McLeod West Falcons 15-8, 15-5, 15-1 in just 50 minutes, preserving some pep for their soiree Thursday night with crosstown rival Minnesota Valley Lutheran.

"This was a total team effort," said Greyhounds coach Karan Whitmyer. "We had a couple of heartbreaking losses last week and the team has rebounded well. They all had contributions tonight."

For Falcons coach Mary Lemke's 0-11 squad, it was a step backward after a promising week. "We had problems with passing, we had problems with hitting, we had problems with serving," said Lemke. "Tonight, the team just didn't show up."

The night started with game one knotted at 6-6 before NUC went on a 9-2 run, helped in part by the Falcons three net serves. Kristen Dietz and Melissa Kraus both served aces, while Liesl Genelin added two kills on offense and McLeod West hit three balls into the net.

Game two featured two more aces by Kraus, while the Falcons continued their poor serving, hitting four into the net and giving the Greyhounds that many more chances to show off their offense. Genelin and Katie Gieseke had six kills between them and the Cathedral attack caused the Falcons to hit the ball out of bounds three times and into the net four times.

The Greyhounds went for the kill in more ways than one the third game, garnering eight of their points on three aces from Toni Hall and five aces from Genelin. Once again, the Falcons didn't help themselves much on offense, this time hitting four out of bounds and two into the net on return attempts. After giving up the first point to McLeod West, NUC ran the table with 15 straight points.

"I thought Genelin had a nice game tonight serving and hitting, along with Gieseke, Kraus and Dietz," said Whitmyer. "We have to serve well and play good defense because of our lack of height. This was a nice preview for Thursday night against MVL."

Genelin was 18-for-18 from the line with 15 service points and five aces, while Kraus was 12-for-13 with nine points and four aces. Nikki Fischer led the Greyhounds in set assists with 18 while Genelin had nine ace hits and Gieseke added three. Hall also had two ace blocks.

The Greyhounds B and C squads made it a sweep for the evening as the B squad won 15-11 and the C squad won 11-3, 11-8, 11-5.

NUC is now 9-5-1 overall, 3-3 in the Tomahawk Conference, while McLeod West drops to 0-11, 0-5. The Thursday night game against MVL will be at 7:30 in the NUC gym, while the Falcons travel to play Buffalo Lake/Hector in Hector next Tuesday night at 7:30.

NUC - 15 15 15

MCLEOD WEST - 8 5 1