T-birds sting YME

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

REDWOOD FALLS -- Alfred Hitchcock would love the irony of it.

The 3-0 sweep by the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thunderbirds over the Yellow Medicine East Sting Friday night in the first round of Section 3AA volleyball sets up a match that has one of those twisty edges to it.

GFW will meet the Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Panthers in the 6 p.m. match at Redwood Valley High School. Last year, the Thunderbirds were seeded number one and were knocked out of the tournament by the sixth-seeded Panthers.

Tuesday, the fourth-seeded Thunderbirds meet the top ranked Panthers and have a chance to return a favor 365 days later.

But in order to reach that point, GFW had to dispose of the fifth-seeded Sting, and it didn't take long. In winning 25-13, 25-22, 25-13, the Thunderbirds played their usual strengths: tough defense and an offense that doesn't center around one player.

"We knew they had strong middle hitters," GFW coach Bob Kaukola said. "So we knew we had to play against that. We needed to put pressure on them. Plus, everyone got playing time, and that's always good."

It was tied 2-2 in the first game when a combination of Sting miscues and two straight aces by Bethany Werner put the Thunderbirds up 9-2. It was obvious early that YME would hinge their offense on a big night from their 5'11" junior middle hitter Chelsea Evenstad, but GFW did a good job in the first game keeping the ball away from her shots.

A perfect example was when Emily VanHon anticipated and blocked a kill attempt from Evenstad that put the Thunderbirds up 16-6. Up to that point, Evenstad had only two kills and would get just one more in YME's opening twelve point loss.

The Sting came out in game two as if they knew it was essentially the rubber match instead of the second match. The Sting controlled the match in the early going, as Evanstad outfoxed and outmuscled the Thunderbirds with four kills in YME's first twelve points.

The Sting was up 12-7 when the Thunderbirds began their comeback. Helped by two aces from Nea Harkness and an ace from Lindsey Kiecker, GFW knotted the game at 13-13. The Sting took the lead back temporarily at 16-14, but then it was the Thunderbirds all the way.

After an 18-18 tie, Ashley Vorwerk popped a tip kill and the Sting made two unforced errors. YME then came back with an ace from Julia Kvam and a net serve by GFW, but when two of the Sting found themselves under the net, it gave the Thunderbirds a 22-20 margin. Three plays later, the Thunderbirds finished off YME with a kill by Alisha Kruggel and the fifth tip kill of the night by Kiecker to win it.

"Kiecker is good at reading holes in the defense," Kaukola said. "She's getting better at that. She's really stepped up to become a team leader."

The Sting played the third game as if it was already over, with the Thunderbirds rolling to a 10-1 lead in the early going. Of those ten points, seven came from unforced YME errors, with the other three coming from an ace by Kruggel, a tip kill from Vorwerk and a defensive block by Harkness.

The Sting then outscored the Thunderbirds 8-3 to come within four at 13-9, but GFW then rattled off five straight points to take an 18-9 lead. Up 21-12, the Thunderbird defense foiled the Sting's last stand as they blocked three kill attempts by Evenstad to take point number 22. The final two points came on an ace by Beckie Jackson and a kill by Vorwerk, setting up Tuesday's match against TMB.

Kiecker had 23 set assists for the Thunderbirds, while Werner had three aces and Harkness had two. Vorwerk led in kills with nine, followed by Ashley Busch with seven and VanHon with four. Kiecker had eight digs, while Kruggel and VanHon each had six and Harkness had five. Busch led with three blocks and Vorwerk added two.

The Tuesday night game will be 25 minutes after the 6 p.m. game at Redwood Valley High School in Redwood Falls.