Area roundup: MCW downs Greyhounds, Thunderbirds eke by New Richland
Prep Football
MCW 20, Cathedral 0
SHERBURN — Martin County West shut out New Ulm Cathedral 20-0 on Saturday in a Southwest District, East Subdistrict football game.
Levi Jakes had nine carries for 51 yards for Cathedral, while Eric Furth ran for 58 yards on 11 carries. Jakes also had 12 tackles and an interception, while Thomas Finstad had 11 tackles and a sack and Sam Knowles had 10 total tackles.
Cathedral (2-3) hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Friday.
GFW 22, NRHEG 21
NEW RICHLAND — Gibbon Fairfax-Winthrop gave up 13 points in the final quarter but did enough to hold off New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 22-21 on Saturday in Mid Southeast District, White Subdistrict football action.
Nick TenEyck rushed for 96 yards and a TD for the Thunderbirds, while Treay Taylor was held to 50 yards rushing on nine carries. Brody Hentges completed 8 of 11 passes for 92 yards and two TDs for GFW while throwing his first interception of the season.
TenEyck caught two passes for 47 yards and a TD, while Ashton Buboltz had two catches for 24 yards and a score. On defense, GFW got eight tackles from TenEyck to lead the way, while Trevor Schweiss added four tackles and Easton Taylor had three tackles and an interception.
GFW hosts top-ranked Blooming Prairie on Saturday.
Late Friday
Springfield 44, St. James 6
ST. JAMES — Springfield breezed past St. James 44-6 on Friday night in a Southwest District, East Subdistrict football game.
Ashtin Johnson had 98 yards rushing and four TDs to lead the Tigers, while Brendon Buerkle threw for 359 yards and two TDs. Carter Olson had nine catches for 107 yards also for Springfield, while Tate Mathiowetz had six catches for 94 yards. On defense, Caleb Hauger and Ashton Toll each had 12 tackles, while Mathiowetz had an interception and Jakob Nachreiner had a fumble recovery.
Prep Volleyball
Nicollet takes 1st at home tourney
NICOLLET — Nicollet took first at its home tournament on Saturday, defeating Sleepy Eye in the finals 25-12, 16-25, 15-8.
Nicollet also defeated Mankato Loyola (25-9, 25-18), United South Central (25-17, 25-9), Springfield (25-20, 26-24) in the round robin portion of the tourney before defeating Springfield again 25-19, 25-20 to move on to the championship. Nicollet fell earlier in the tournament to Sleepy Eye, with the Indians winning that matchup 25-22, 25-18.
Marah Hulke had 16 kills, 34 digs and 56 set assists for Nicollet at the tournament, while Brooklyn Bode had 27 kills and nine blocks and Olivia Whitmore had 30 kills.
Nicollet (13-9) hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Monday.
Madelia goes 3-2 at St. Clair tourney
ST. CLAIR — Madelia went 3-2 at the St. Clair tournament on Saturday.
Madelia defeated Randolph (25-15, 21-25, T), Blue Earth Area (22-25, 25-14, 15-8) and Mountain Lake Area (18-25, 25-21, 17-15). Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s defeated Madelia (25-18, 25-21), while St. Peter defeated Madelia (25-21, 25-9).
Brooke Lensing led Madelia in kills on the day with 25, while Corban Tatro had 16 total kills. Ashley Sorenson had 88 total set assists and 11 aces for the Blackhawks also, while Dora Facundo had 20 digs on the day and Ashlynn Sweet had eight total blocks.
Madelia (9-15-1) plays Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther on Tuesday at Truman.
College Volleyball
MLC 3, NCU 2
UNW 3, MLC 0
ST. PAUL — The Martin Luther College rallied from two-sets down to defeat North Central University (NCU) (17-25, 12-25, 25-11, 25-11, 15-7) before losing 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-16) to University of Northwestern-St. Paul (UNW) on Saturday.
The Knights dug themselves out of a giant hole to win the opening match in 3-2 over the Rams.
MLC had just eight kills compared to 18 attack errors in the first two sets, but recorded 29 kills against 10 errors in the final three sets en route to the comeback win.
Kelsey Birschbach led all players with 13 kills, while Paige Biesterfeld joined her in double figures with 10 kills.
Hannah Willems recorded five blocks, while Kate Aswege finished with a team-best 18 digs.
MLC was then unable to slow down UNW in a three-set defeat in the Saturday evening match.
UNW hit .268 on the attack and recorded 45 total kills in the match in the win.
Birschbach and Biesterfeld tied for the team lead with five kills apiece for MLC.
The Knights moved to 5-10 on the season and 4-1 in UMAC following the split.
Women’s Soccer
MLC 3, NCU 3
NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College women’s soccer team conceded a late goal and finished with a 3-3 tie against North Central University (NCU) on Saturday.
The Knights fell behind early on an NCU goal in the fourth minute, but Kaitlin Butler, Morgan Spoehr and Hannah Schroeder each found the back of the net from long distance to help the Knights take a 3-2 lead at the half.
The score remained 3-2 until the 85th minute, when the Rams’ Hannah Grubbs scored the equalizer to send the game into overtime.
In the two extra periods, the Knights dominated play and out-shot the Rams 9-0, but could not find the back of the net before the final buzzer sounded.
MLC controlled possession for much of the game and finished with a 47-16 edge in shots, including a 29-11 margin in shots on goal.
Butler (10) and Schroeder (nine) combined for 19 total shots, seven of which were on goal.
Grace Sievert stopped eight of the Rams’ 11 shots in goal for MLC.
Men’s Soccer
MLC 5, NCU 2
NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College men’s soccer team celebrated Homecoming with a 5-2 win over North Central University (NCU) on Saturday.
Lucas Martin was the star on offense for MLC, scoring his first career hat trick to give him a team-best five goals on the season.
Xander Heiman led off the scoring in the eighth minute off assists from Isaias Santos and Nathan Pausma, but NCU tied the game 1-1 following a penalty kick in the 35th minute.
Clay Hirsch scored in the 67th minute to give the Knights the lead, and Martin put the exclamation point on the win with three goals in a 15-minute span, including a penalty kick in the 78th minute after the Rams had cut their deficit back to 3-2.
Martin finished the day with seven total shots, including five shots on goal.
Hirsch added an assist on Martin’s third goal in the 83rd minute. Santos finished with three shots on goal and a pair of assists.
Adam Rosenbaum was steady in goal for the Knights, stopping 10 of the Rams’ 12 shots on goal.
Men’s Golf
MLC men finish 9th at MLC Invite
BUFFALO LAKE — The Martin Luther College men’s golf team finished ninth at its own event (the MLC Invitational) on Saturday at Oakdale Golf Club.
The Knights recorded a team score of 344 at the event.
John Fix carded a round of 80 to lead MLC and finish in a tie for 16th place out of 54 golfers at the event.
Micah Otto shot 86, while Kyle Lindemann (88) and Ben Gensmer (90) made up the final two spots in the MLC line-up.
UW-Superior won the tournament with a team score of 311 strokes. North Central (313) and Bethany Lutheran (315) followed in the top three.
Women’s Golf
MLC women take 4th at MLC Invite
BUFFALO LAKE — The Martin Luther College women’s golf team hosted the MLC Invitational at Oakdale Golf Club on Saturday.
The Knights finished their event in fourth place with a team score of 490 total strokes.
Melina Satorius led MLC with a round of 98, good for 16th place out of 30 players at the event.
Lexi Fischer (107), AnaCristina Iglesias (130) and Julia Hallman (155) rounded out the MLC line-up.
Northwestern-St. Paul (359) took first place in the team competition, followed by Northland (361) and UW-Superior (376).