Chargers defeat Knights

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Sleepy Eye St. Mary's Knights gave the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers a run for their volleys, but came up short losing 15-3, 9-15, 15-11, 7-15, 15-6.

You can tell by the scores that it was back and forth the whole way.

"We hung on to get the 'W'," MVL coach Julie Detjen said. "We kinda felt like we escaped with one tonight.

"It was like a rollercoaster with a series of good plays and then the flip side. Sleepy Eye did that to us -- they forced them into somethings ... Give them the kudos. They could have easily pulled this one out."

MVL came up big in the first game scoring 12 unanswered points before winning 15-3.

The Knights couldn't stop Angie Unke in the first game -- who had nine ace blocks overall. The team had 15 blocks total.

The Knights made some successful adjustments in the second game and won 15-9.

"We adjusted to their hitters," Knights coach Stef Whittet said. "We moved our backrow players around. We did a lot better digging."

Raina Walter had 17 digs in the back row and Casie Schumacher dug up a lot the back row.

MVL regained some swagger back in the third for the win, but mental errors plagued MVL in the fourth.

But much like the first game, MVL came up big in the end with the game all tied up at two-apiece.

"It was a hard-fought game," Detjen said. "Sleepy Eye played much better than they played us last week. They gave us a run."

Last week, MVL defeated the Knights 3-1 at Sleepy Eye.

"It's a tough loss, but we played them really well," Whittet said. "It was a lot better than last week."

Other notables for the Knights were Krista Armbruster who had11 kills and two ace blocks. Amanda Helget had 12 service points with three aces as well as 20 set assists and 11 digs.

Annie Suker had 13 service points. Stephanie Krzmarzick had 10 and three aces.

For MVL, Emily Buck had 35 set assists. Danielle Kramer had 10 kills and nine digs.

Rachel Olson had eight digs. Jessica Beckendorf and Angie Unke each had nine kills.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary's falls to 5-8 overall. They travel to Cedar Mountain today.

The Chargers improve to 10-4 and they host the other Sleepy Eye team, the Indians.