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Comeback attempt falls short for MVL

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Mara Weisensel (5) spikes the ball spikes the ball past Abby Meyers (9) and Ashley Trongard of BOLD during Section 2A playoff match at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — Despite battling back from a two-set deficit on Tuesday night at New Ulm High School, Minnesota Valley Lutheran was unable to complete the comeback against BOLD in Section 2A, North Subsection volleyball playoff action.

The No-3 seeded Warriors topped the No. 2-seeded Chargers in five sets 25-12, 25-21, 25-27, 18-25, 15-6.

With the win, BOLD will now meet top-seeded Mayer Lutheran on Thursday night at Mankato East High School in the North Subsection finals, while the Chargers end their season at 24-5.

MVL was led by Emma Nelson, who had 17 kills and two ace serves, while Mara Weisensel had 16 kills and four blocks and Maddie Pearson had 39 set assists, 13 digs and two blocks. Also for MVL, Kaylee Hunter had 13 digs and Haley Herfendal had 12 digs and a pair of ace serves.

BOLD overpowered MVL in the opening set, knocking the Chargers back on their heels midway through the set and finishing it off on 14-3 run with a balanced attack. The Chargers picked things up in the second set and led 7-2 early on before BOLD went on a 5-0 run midway through the set to lead 13-11 after a block by Ashley Trongard.

While a kill and a block by Weisensel had the Chargers down 24-21 late, a double hit by Weisensel put the Warriors up in the match 2-0.

Like all season, however, MVL refused to quit, taking the next two sets and forcing a fifth set.

“I think the first set, we had a lot of nerves that we just were trying to work out,” MVL head coach Amy Pearson said. “We haven’t seen BOLD before, so we had to get used to, where are they going to attack from, where are they going to put the ball, so I think as we adjusted to that in Games 1 and 2, that helped build the momentum. Game 2 was pretty lopsided, but Game 2 was a lot closer.”

Trailing two sets to none, MVL Got a 5-0 run near the middle of the third set to lead 12-9, led by a pair of kills by Nelson and a kill by Weisensel. With each team taking turns ahead, BOLD went up 25-24 late after a kill by Trongard.

MVL then finished the set with back-to-back kills by Weisensel and an ace serve from Nelson.

In Set 4, the Chargers were the aggressors and led 15-7 after a 4-0 run that forced a BOLD timeout. During that run, MVL got a kill by Nelson and a kill and block by Weisensel.

While BOLD cut its deficit to 3, 19-16, MVL kept its composure and got three kills in a row from Nelson to take the fourth set and tie the match up at 2-2.

BOLD never trailed in the fifth, set, however, and despite a late kill by Nelson, the Warriors finished the set on a kill from Leslie Snow.

While the loss wasn’t the end result the Chargers obviously wanted, coach Pearson said that if they had to lose, this was the way to do it.

“I told them after the game, ‘No one wants to end the season on a loss, but if we have to end it on a loss, I’ll take it on a loss like that,'” coach Pearson said. “I felt that the girls left everything out on the court, they played their hearts out, the seniors did an awesome job of keeping the morale up. We never hung our heads, even when we were two games down. We had the determination and the mindset that we were going to come back and do it, so I was very proud of the girls out there. I told them before the game that we all have to play like seniors tonight, and I feel like they did.”

MVL graduates six seniors from the team in Maddie Pearson, Weisensel, Herfendal, Nelson, Sarah Kramer and Julia Flitter.

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