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Knights top Indians in 4

SLEEPY EYE – Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s beat Sleepy Eye Public in a Tomahawk Conference, crosstown battle Tuesday. The Knights came out on top 25-14, 25-21, 23-25, 25-15 against the Indians.

The Knights took control of the first set when Megan Labat went on an 8-0 run to open the match. The Indians tried to stop the run when Madi Krueger delivered a kill, but then turned the ball back over to the knights serving. Sarah Reinarts, Anna Lux and Megan Zeigler each had two kills during the set.

“[Lux, Reinarts] are both outside hitters against a smaller outside and we took advantage of that,” St. Mary’s coach Jen Walter said. “[Reinarts] was able to find how to get over the block and place the ball in the deep corner.”

The Indians opened the second set with a 4-1 lead, and held it until the Knights tied it 21-21. The Knights never trailed more then four points but struggled with strong front play from the Indians. Jaidyn McGee had a few key blocks and a kill allowing the Indians to maintain the lead.

St. Marys’ Jody Hansen took the serve the last four consecutive points to end the match.

“[McGee] is a young player, this was her first time playing the middle. She is stepping into that roll, she does not like to see the ball drop” Sleepy Eye coach Nicole Jensen said.

The Indians found themselves in a 6-1 deficit to begin the third set. They began to climb out of the hole on some strong kills delivered by Mya Ibberson. The Indians had strong outside hitting during the third set from Mckenzie Cselovszki, assisting in their comeback victory.

“[Cselovszki] has struggled, at times with her timing, we talked about being patient and placing the ball better between set two and three,” Jensen said.

The Indians tied the scoring at 23, Ibberson then had two kills to end the set.

“We knew we had to feed [Ibberson] the ball as much as possible when she was in the front row,” Jensen said.

The Knights broke away from a 5-5 tie, after trailing in the fourth set. The indians came within two points but couldn’t stop the front hitting from the Knights. Ali Beltz, Lux and Zeigler together tallied 11 kills during the set, for the Knights.

“We knew we had to get the ball in the hands of [Lux], lets feed her, she is on fire tonight,” Walter said.

Ibberson tallied 17 kills and four blocks, with Cassidy Hoffmann delivering 29 set assists for the Indians.

Lux and Beltz led the Knights with 16 and 10 kills respectively, Labat was 22-for-22 serving with four aces. Beltz added 18 digs and Jody Hansen ended the night with 42 set assists.

The Indians will travel to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The Knights will host Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

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