Four volleyball teams won two matches on the week, allowing each to stay unblemished on the year. Three are from the SEC-East, meaning there will be some big matches upcoming in the future for that division.
#4 Cougars Down
GM and G-E
At the head of the SEC-East list, the SEC list period, are the Class A fourth-ranked Mabel-Canton Cougars. Lonnie Morken’s group took out Grand Meadow and Glenville-Emmons in back-to-back days to stay perfect. The match with the Larks paired up last year’s SEC-East and SEC-West champions, but the eastern Cougars proved their superiority. They won in straight sets, 25-14, 25-15, 25-17. Superb senior Kenidi McCabe (15 kills on .519 hitting, 14 assists, 13 digs, 4 aces) posted a triple-double. Emily Carolan (9 kills on .500 hitting), Jordyn Newgard (6 kills, 6 digs, 3 aces), Sophie Morken (9 kills, 18 assists, 3 aces), Lauren Wyffels (10 digs), and Molly Lee (4 kills, 7 digs) helped. GM was led by Hailey Hindt (7 kills, 3 aces), Sydney Cotton (8 digs), Madison Hindt (8 kills, 6 assists), and Emma Grafe (8 assists, 6 digs). M-C then downed G-E in straight sets, 25-15, 25-12, 25-17. Sophie Morken (7 kills, 7 assists, 15-15 serving, 4 aces) and Newgard (7 kills, 7 digs) led the way offensively. McCabe (6 kills, 8 assists, 5 digs, 4 aces) did a bit of everything while Lee (6 kills, 5 digs) and Wyffels (8 assists, 8 digs) helped. Seven Cougars had multiple kills. Four had at least six assists. M-C is 3-0 in the SEC and overall
Burros Take Out
G-E and L-O
Lanesboro volleyball rode the momentum of a season-opening 3-2 win over West power GM to two more wins over SEC-West teams. Julie Schreiber’s Burros took out G-E and L-O. The Wolverines fell 25-15, 25-14, 25-13 in Lanesboro. Kaci Ruen (8 kills, 14 digs), Sydney Taylor (8 kills), Jessie Schreiber (6 kills, 5 aces), Malia Tessum (8 digs, 21-21 serving, 4 aces), and Ella Cambern (18 assists, 8 digs) led the way. At LeRoy, the Cardinals scrapped for two sets, but fell 25-19, 25-21, 25-9. Setter Ella Cambern had 30 assists, 6 digs, and went 24 of 24 serving with 3 aces. Taylor (13 kills, 12 digs), Schreiber (11 kills), Ruen (7 kills, 12 digs), and Tessum (15 digs, 17-17 serving) helped. Tessum thus went 38-38 serving on the week. The Cardinals were led by Gracie O’Byrne (19 digs) and Anna Welsh (18 assists, 4 aces). Sam Volkart (5 kills), Benita Nolt (5 kills), and Jordan Runde (4 kills) had the spikes. The Burros improved to 3-0 in the SEC, 3-0 overall. Lindsay Milk’s crew falls to 1-2 in the SEC, 1-2 overall.
Lions Sweep L-O,
Rally Back Past Kingsland
Spring Grove followed a convincing 3-0 season-opening road win at G-E (25-17, 25-12, 25-10) with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-15) home sweep of L-O. Brielle Neeley (8 kills), VaNessa Peterson (7 digs, 4 aces), Rachel Normann (4 kills, 18 assists), Maggie Lile (11 digs), and Julia Halverson (7 digs, 16-16 serving) did work for the Lions. Paige Jahnke added 5 aces. Libero Gracie O’Byrne led L-O with 14 digs and 2 aces. Anna Welsh (6 assists, 6 digs), Kayden Schulte (3 kills, 4 aces), Sam Volkart (3 kills), and Benita Nolt (3 kills) helped. Grove had 21 more earned points and 11 fewer errors than did the Cardinals. SG served 16 aces. The next night at Kingsland, both teams came in at 2-0. The Lions dropped their first set of the season before taking the final three (17-25, 26-24, 25-10, 25-21). SG never led while dropping the first set but did lead for most of set two. But the Knights caught up at 17-all and served at set point (24-23) before the Lions swept the next three points (two Peterson kills, Rachel Normann ace serve) to win 26-24 to even the match at one set all. Grove dominated set three (25-10), but Kingsland would lead for most of set four. The Lions broke a 20-20 tie with strong hitting to take five of the final six points. Peterson had three of those late, match-clinching kills. Addyson McHugh led scoring (12 kills, 2 blocks). Neeley (8 kills) and Peterson (7 kills, 4 aces, 10 digs) helped offensively. Normann guided the SG attack with 28 set assists and had 18 digs. Maggie Lile had 19 digs while serving 20 for 22 with 4 aces. Neither team was efficient at the net, but SG had 8 more kills and 8 more service aces. Kingsland was led by Ellie Buchholtz’s double-double (17 kills, 12 digs). Shelby Beck added 7 kills. Alyssa Link (23 assists, 7 digs), Audrey Webster (11 digs), and Anika Reiland (3 kills, 7 digs) also aided the Knight cause. Buchholtz had 17 of Kingsland’s 29 kills. Kelsey Morken’s Lions improved to 3-0 in the SEC and overall. Amanda Siskow’s Knights fell to 2-1, 2-1.
Falcons Win First
Two TRC Matches
Fillmore Central’s season got off to a late start. The opener versus Chatfield was scheduled for October 8, got moved to October 10 due to finding officials, then got postponed until October 19. And thus, finally on October 12, FC hosted Dover-Eyota for its season-opener. They made short work of the Eagles in straight sets, 25-11, 25-22, 25-19. Senior Hadley Yoder had 13 kills to lead the offense. Lauren Mensink (3 kills, 23 assists, 6 digs) keyed the offense from her setter spot. Maddie Krage (6 kills), K.J. Corson (11 digs), and Hope Sexton (8 digs) helped out. The Falcons then hosted PEM and also won in sweeping-fashion, 25-17, 25-17, 25-20. Seven Falcons had multiple kills, led by freshman Kammry Broadwater (11 kills on .450 hitting) and the senior Krage (11 kills). Yoder chipped in 7 kills. Mensink had 32 assists and 14 digs. Corson (19 digs), Sexton (12 digs), and Ashlyn Simon (11 digs, 17-17 serving) provided good back-line defense/passing. FC is 2-0 in the TRC, 2-0 overall.