MLC outlasts Eagles

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- There are few things in sports that feel better than some good old-fashioned revenge.

The Martin Luther College volleyball team avenged one of its four defeats on the season Tuesday, outlasting Northwestern College 10-15, 15-9, 15-5, 16-14 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action at MLC gym.

"(Northwestern) is a team, that when we played them up (in Roseville), pretty much had their way with us," Knight coach Drew Buck said. "They have excellent blocking, excellent passing, excellent hitting ... but tonight we were able to do a little bit more of it ourselves. That was big, plus we knew what to expect the second time around."

It would be the Eagles that looked to be the superior team early on, though. Two kills from Emily Buchner, one each from Holly Stanke and Anna Anderson, and a Stanke ace would give Northwestern a 7-0 lead before Kelly Gawrisch put MLC on the board with a service point. The Knights would battle back to within 10-9 with seven straight points, but two more Stanke aces spurred a 5-1 run that gave the Eagles a 1-0 game edge.

"I think it was determination," Buck said after the game-one loss. "We knew we had worked too hard this last week in prepping for them, and we weren't going to let that slip away. We weren't going to go down without a fight, and then all of the sudden balls started to drop for us."

The Knights would use a six-point run, led by two kills from Lisa Gawrisch, to gain the edge in game two, and after an Eagle spurt got NWC within 11-9 MLC got four straight points in the clutch to knot the match at a game apiece. Lisa Gawrisch also accounted for an ace serve and an ace block in the win.

"Lisa Gawrisch was really swinging well tonight," Buck commented. "(Northwestern) blocked her very strong last time, so we tried to get her the ball quicker on the outside to defeat that double-block and had some success with it."

Game three was dominated by MLC as two ace serves from Kelly Gawrisch followed by kills from Christa Holub and Lisa Gawrisch made the score 4-0, and kills from Kelly and Emily Hahnke pushed that edge to 7-1. The Knights also had a 7-0 run in the game, and sat on 14 points for awhile before Rachel Kramer's ace tip gave MLC a 2-1 game advantage.

"Game three was big," Buck said. "We put some things together in that game, and it gave us a nice lift."

Game four was back to the grind as the Eagles took leads of 7-3, 10-6, and 12-9 before the Knights took charge again. Three service points from Kelly Gawrisch, a Lisa Gawrisch kill and a Holub block gave MLC a 14-13 advantage and, after a Knight miscue allowed NWC to tie the game, two more Lisa kills won the match and kept MLC perfect in the UMAC.

"I think pushing those two or three points there put the pressure on (NWC) a little bit," Buck said. "When you're down two games ... it's tough when you're fighting down to the bitter end, and you have a different sense of urgency."

Kelly finished with 17 service points, three ace serves and 23 digs, and sister Lisa led the offense with 21 kills while adding 15 digs. Jenny Nommensen also had a solid all-around night with 12 kills, six ace blocks, and 27 set assists.

Becky Bertolus and Emily Hahnke each had 11 service points, with Hahnke adding 26 set assists, and Kramer added a team-high nine ace blocks.

The Knights (18-4, 3-0 UMAC) will travel to Duluth to face College of St. Scholastica Friday.