Springfield sweeps Chargers

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- It was the volleyball version of the chicken-and-egg question Tuesday night at Minnesota Valley Lutheran high school ... did Springfield play that well or did MVL play that badly?

The Tigers beat the Chargers in straight games, 15-10, 15-2, 15-6, but only the first game was ever in question. Between MVL's mental errors and Springfield's serving and kill blocking, it was a short night for the Chargers.

"We didn't come ready to play," said MVL coach Lori Unke. "We weren't focused. What was bad was our inability to pull out of it. It just went from bad to worse. Hopefully, we can take care of it in practice on Wednesday before our matchup Thursday with GFW (Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop)."

For the Tigers, it was simply a well-played game with a planned attack. "We hit the holes very well, and our service was on, too," said Tigers coach Vicki Lake. "The girls came out and played aggressively. This was our first win in three and we needed to know what it's like to totally defeat somebody."

The first game was the best volleyball of the night, with both teams trading leads up until a 4-4 tie. Then MVL's mistakes began to happen, losing four straight points to balls being hit into the net for a 8-4 Tiger lead.

But MVL fought back with an ace from Leah Morgan, and two Springfield mistakes bringing the score back to 8-7. After trading points, though, the Tigers pulled away by blocking four Chargers kill attempts and an ace from Sara Anderson.

In that game, the Tigers had five net tips for points, and would use that attack technique throughout the next two games either for points or setting up kills from their front lines. The Chargers never got their kill offense going, with the Tigers blocking 16 attempted MVL kills.

The second game was all Springfield, with the Tigers running up a 10-0 lead before MVL scored its first point. The Chargers had three hits go out of bounds and five more that landed in the net for either points or return serves to the Tigers, while Springfield nailed four kills.

The Chargers briefly held a 1-0 lead at the start of the third game, but soon found themselves down 10-2. Once again, the Tigers kept the Chargers off balance with their combination of net tips and outright kills, with MVL adding to their own demise with five balls hit out of bounds and three more in the net, two on serves.

The only ray of light in the Chargers effort, said Unke, was the way the back line covered behind the MVL spikers. For Springfield, it was a redemption of sorts after losing in four games on Monday night against GFW.

Anderson had 16 points, four aces, three ace tips and eight defensive digs for the Tigers, while Katie Johansen had seven points and 16 assists. Tiffany Runck had four kills and nine blocks, and Amy Lipetzky had five kills with Taryn Runck added seven blocks. Emily Buck had 10 set assists for the Chargers.

The win puts the Tigers at 9-8 overall, 3-3 in the Tomahawk Conference, while the Chargers drop to 5-6, 2-3. MVL hosts GFW on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.