BLC wins in rivalry

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The World Series Champion Boston Red Sox have the New York Yankees for their big rival.

Duke has North Carolina.

And for the Knights of Martin Luther College, they have Bethany Lutheran College.

BLC defeated the Knights 30-28, 35-33, 17-30, 30-19 Wednesday night in the final regular season game for both teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

But the Knights (16-13, 9-5) will get another shot at the Vikings in the first round of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tournament Saturday, Nov. 5 when the fourth-seeded Knights play the top-seeded Vikings at the Bethany Lutheran College Athletic Complex. The win improved BLC's record to 24-7 overall and a perfect 14-0 in the UMAC.

"I thought we played well tonight," MLC coach Drew Buck said. "Obviously down the stretch, I think that [errors] did us in."

The game featured several former Minnesota Valley Lutheran players on the MLC squad, and BLC suited up Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop graduate Amber Schreiner, St. James graduate Britt Rinne, and Minnesota Valley Lutheran graduate Kelsey Black.

Black had 54 set assists, five kills, and two ace serves. She said it's weird looking on the other side of the net and seeing players that she played with in high school, but it's also fun.

"It's fun, but its actually not that different, because we prepare ourselves to do our jobs as a team," Black said. "It's just fun to see them on the other side of the court. It's not like real competitive, its just kinda funny."

The rivalry always packs the gym no matter if its volleyball or if its basketball, and Wednesday's contest was no different.

"You try to make it no bigger than any game during the regular season, but you can't," Buck said. "The atmosphere and more people in the stands because its a rivalry and the kids from the area."

The first two games were very competitive and could have gone either way. MLC took an early 8-5 lead, but the Vikings fought back and took a 21-18 lead on Rinne's hit that landed on the baseline.

Later, Meyer blocked Aimee Freiborg's smash and the game was tied at 26. But Jackson County Central graduate Lindsey Larsen landed a couple of kills that finished off the Knights.

The second game was also a back-and-forth affair. Rinne's tip tied the game at 17, and Beth Bertolus' kill gave MLC a slim 19-17 lead.

The Knights looked like they were going to even out the match and took a 25-20 lead on Leah Morgan's kill.

After a BLC timeout, the Vikings got the momentum back with Black at the line and she served the Vikings back to a 25-25 tie before her errant serve gave the Knights another lead.

Rinne's kill finally ended the marathon game at 35-33 in favor of Bethany. Rinne had nine kills and 22 digs, while Larsen and Freiborg had 17 kills each for the Vikings. Kristen Goebel had 10 kills and Schreiner 10 digs and two service aces.

The Knights didn't bow down in Game Three and took it to the Vikings, winning 30-17, which Buck was happy to see.

"With a Bethany team and them having as strong of hitters as they have, for us to be down two games and come back and beat them in the fashion that we did in the third game, it does a lot for our ballclub," Buck said.

BLC finished off the Knights in Game Four, but Buck thinks his team should play another highly competitive match in the playoffs next weekend.

"We've been playing tougher down the stretch," Buck said. "We played them tougher than we did the first time around.

"We saw some things tonight we didn't get a chance to work on, so I'm hoping we'll be able to make the corrections," Buck said.

Meyer led the Knights with 18 kills. Beth Bertolus and middle hitter Katie Bertolus each had nine kills and another middle hitter, Tiffany Wendt, had eight.

"Both middles stepped it up tonight, which they had to do," Buck said.

Wendt had seven blocks and Morgan had five. Bethany Bauer had 16 digs and three ace serves and Emily Buck had 44 set assists. Beth Bertolus had 17 digs.

Jeremy Behnke can be reached at jbehnke@nujournal.com