GFW offense puts CHS on heels

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- Nicole Black of Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop felt confident enough with a two-game lead over Cathedral to try out her jump serve. She did more than just try.

When Black began serving in the third game, the score was tied 3-3. When she was ousted from her serving spot by Angela Long's ace hit, GFW had thundered to a 14-4 lead.

"I don't jump serve much, so that pumps people up," said Black, who feels that her jump serve is not consistent enough to be her starting serve, even though it is tougher to pass. "I got on a roll tonight. I kinda looked to the coach and once I saw (his thumbs-up), I did it."

Black had five ace serves and five kills in the game, with 11 total points.

A shaky Cathedral team was more shaken up, and although they had a couple of point streaks, the Greyhounds lost 25-18. GFW won the first two games 25-16 and 25-16.

"That really picked us apart -- it really intimidated us," Cathedral's Angela Long said. Long led Cathedral with eight ace hits in the match.

"GFW does a good job of working on you mentally," Cathedral coach Karan Whitmyer said. "The jump serve got us off on the wrong foot [in Game 3]."

In the first two games, Cathedral kept with GFW for the first part of the game, then a series of errors or Thunderbird kills would lend momentum to send GFW towards the win.

"Our hustle wasn't there and our communication was lacking," Long said. "We were playing with them and we'd just lose it. We just seemed to lose confidence."

In Game 1, Cathedral kept it close early, but a string of Greyhound errors put GFW up 13-10. GFW didn't pull ahead again until two ace tips by Ashley Busch and Lindsey Kiecker set them up for the win. The Thunderbirds finished it off with five straight points with ace hits by Black and Ashley Vorwerk, an Emily VanHon tip and an ace serve by Bethany Werner.

Busch finished with nine kills and three blocks, while Kiecker had 27 set assists and 10 digs. VanHon and Vorwerk had four and three blocks. Ashley Kruggel had seven kills.

"Their hitters were hitting it where we weren't and they were tipping it," Long said. "It was just coverage. We were [also] hitting it to them -- we have to learn to hit around them and try new things."

In Game 2, Cathedral led until GFW overcame them at 10-9. The Thunderbirds controlled the rest of the game, with Cathedral points being peppered in throughout the game.

Melissa Kraus was 12-for-12 serving with six points, Nikki Fischer had five points and an ace and 20 set assists. Holly Helget had three ace hits.

"We definitely played a lot better than we did last night," Black said. "We've messed up in the past and lost some important games to important team, but we're going to pick it up and disappoint some teams in subsections."

The Thunderbirds (12-6) host Hutchinson Thursday, and Cathedral (5-9, 3-5) hosts St. Mary's Tuesday.

The GFW "B" squad won 25-13 and 25-23. The "C" squad won 25-18, 25-15 and 7-7.