Cathedral earns close sweep over MVL
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NEW ULM -- Despite some close sets, New Ulm Cathedral came away with a sweep of Minnesota Valley Lutheran in a nonconference volleyball match, defeating the Chargers 25-23, 25-14, 28-26 Tuesday at MVL High School.
"I thought after the first set we did a much better job offensively of moving the ball around," Cathedral head coach Becky Wilfahrt said. "Finding the open spots over there, getting around the block. I thought we did a nice job of distributing it to other people. The same thing with our serving. I think our serving was key. We got them out of system quite a bit, which then helped us with our offense."
Shay Wilfahrt led the Greyhounds in the match, collecting 20 kills and 13 digs. Jaylin Hartness added 10 kills, 12 digs and two ace serves, while Ava Kruger had seven kills and 10 digs. Madelyn Haala totaled 32 set assists and 17 digs in the match.
MVL did have a strong front row defensively in the match, with the team coming together for eight total blocks. Jenna Bates had four of them, as well as four kills, while Marley Schauer had 12 kills, four digs and one block. Olivia Hammer added four kills, 23 digs, three blocks and two aces, while Eden Grubbs had 11 set assists, eight digs and an ace. Avery Freier had nine set assists, seven digs and an ace.
MVL head coach Johanna Kettner said that front row defense was something the team has worked on early in the season.
"That's something we definitely wanted to improve upon from our last game," she said. "We drilled it in practice, and coming into this game, we knew they had huge outsides and middles. They have big hitters. So we knew we had to shut them down somehow. Using our height to our advantage, make sure that we were moving well and getting the job done. That was one of our big focuses and I think that we did well."
MVL collected four of its blocks in the first set, three of them coming from Bates. However, Cathedral was able to start the set with a 6-0 lead thanks to two kills by Shay Wilfahrt and one from Kruger. MVL was able to battle back, with blocks by Schauer and Bates sparking a 8-2 run that included kills by Bates and Hammer. Another kill by Hammer tied the game at 9, then an ace by Grubbs gave the Chargers a 10-9 lead.
The teams traded points for several serves, with Cathedral pulling ahead 18-15 on a kill by Hartness to force an MVL timeout.
MVL used the timeout to tie the game up once more, with a kill by Schauer setting the score at 20-20. Cathedral took a timeout of its own, coming out with two straight points to retake the lead. The teams traded points until Shay Wilfahrt got a set-winning kill to give Cathedral a 25-23 victory.
Cathedral was able to adjust to the MVL defensive front in Set 2, spreading the ball around and attacking spaces in the Chargers defense.
"We knew coming that they were going to block well," coach Wilfahrt said. "We scrimmaged them earlier, and part of it was our hitters seeing the block and what are they taking away, what are they giving us. Just finding those spots and not necessarily hitting the ball as hard as we could every time, but just placing it and being a little more strategic about it."
The Greyhounds started the game with a 7-2 lead, with Shay Wilfahrt getting three kills for Cathedral. A timeout from MVL did little to slow the onslaught, and an ace by Abbey Hillesheim had the Greyhounds up 17-6.
The Chargers called another timeout, and this time they stabilized, matching points with Cathedral. However, the deficit proved to be to great to overcome, and Shay Wilfahrt notched another set-winner to take a 25-14 victory.
In Set 3, it was MVL that took the early advantage, with a kill by Bates helping the Chargers go up 8-6. Cathedral responded with a 8-2 run led by kills by Haala and Wilfahrt to take a 14-9 lead. The teams traded points for a few serves until MVL took a timeout down 19-15.
After the timeout, MVL was able to battle back to within a point, cutting the Cathedral lead to 21-20. This time it was Greyhounds that took a timeout to regroup. MVL was able to take a 26-25 lead thanks to kills by Bates, Claudia Weisensel Schauer. With the game on the line. Cathedral scored three straight points behind serves from Sophia Netzke to complete the sweep.
Cathedral (2-1) begins conference play with a home game against Wabasso on Thursday. MVL (0-2) hosts a conference game against Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Thursday.