Wolverines frustrate Indians for win

MLBO to face BLH in Section 2A finals

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin's big blocking chipped away at first-seeded Sleepy Eye to give the Wolverines the Section 2A South subsection title, beating the Indians 25-21, 25-19 and 25-15.

MLBO will face Buffalo Lake-Hector in the Section 2A championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College.

"We knew it was gonna be close, but I think we all knew that we could beat 'em," senior hitter/setter Mikkala Junker said. Junker ended the night with eight kills and 21 set assists. "I was just happy how we pulled it all together; everything seemed to go right for us."

Indeed, it did. Although the Wolverines were behind in the first game, they came back to win 25-21. After the game was tied four times, and MLBO had four errors, the Indians were up 9-5 after a Kristi Schieffert ace serve and Charlotte McMullen's ace block. McMullen had four kills and five ace blocks total. The Indians held the lead as MLBO got caught in the net three more times. But the Wolverines tied it up at 18 as Stacie Dirks and Alison Gohr had back-to-back ace hits. Behind 22-20, the Indians took a time out, but MLBO came back with four straight points to win the game.

The MLBO momentum never really faltered after that.

Although Junker said that earlier in the season, MLBO had a difficult time swinging the momentum their way and keeping it, the Wolverines had no troubles with that against the Indians.

The Wolverines made it difficult for the Indians to get more than one or two points at a time, causing the Indians to go through their rotation quickly, not able to keep top hitter Jessie Zuhlsdorf in the front row for very long.

"They were strong and kept hitting, blocking and tipping," Schieffert said. "They found our weaknesses and kept at 'em."

"They just didn't let the ball hit the ground; they got everything we hit at them," Bloedel said. "They are a good ball club; they blocked well and they dug extremely well."

In Game 2, MLBO pulled away from a 4-4 tie to take a six-point lead that they held throughout the game. The Indians helped the Wolverines by giving them 10 points on mistakes. MLBO also mixed it up with tipping and blocking.

"I have a senior-led team and a junior out there -- they pick them up," MLBO coach Karla Wendt said. "They [our team] can be very impressive. The thing that got through tonight was the blocking."

Stats were unavailable for blocking because the Wolverines didn't have many solo blocks. In Game 2, MLBO had three ace blocks, but there were countless blocks that kept putting the ball back to the Indians. And an ace block by Junker and Lindsay Nesmoe finished off the third game 25-15 for the Wolverines.

"We knew it'd be coming," Schieffert said. Schieffert had five kills, 20 set assists and 12 digs on the night. "We did our best to get around them [the blocks], and we succeeded in some ways, but they shut down our hitting game. Except for Jessie [Zuhlsdorf]. She is unstoppable."

Zuhlsdorf had a team-high 11 kills and added 18 digs to the mix.

"She does extremely well; she's been really good the last half of the year," Bloedel said. "Allie Deibele also did a good job against the big blockers, getting around them at the end."

Deibele ended the match with seven kills and 12 digs.

Elisabeth Piotter had three kills and two ace blocks for the Indians. Trista Belseth had 10 digs, and Ashley Roiger had eight.

For the Wolverines, Tracey Hildebrandt had nine kills, 22 set assists and an ace serve, Arlun Saelee had 10 kills, and Stacie Dirks had nine kills.