By Brady Dennis

sports@nujournal.com

NEW ULM — After a rough first set from the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers, they fired back to win the next three to take down the Le Sueur-Henderson Giants in a South Central Conference volleyball match, winning 12-25, 25-12, 25-17, 25-20.

For MVL (11-11, 4-4), Jenna Bates showed aggression on offense with 12 kills, eight digs, one block and seven ace serves. Olivia Hammer was second with eight kills, four digs and three ace serves. Nora Krueger set up the teams offense with 10 set assists, three digs and two ace serves. It was Taryn Gunderson who led the team in digs with 10 while adding three set assists and three ace serves.

MVL and LSH (8-13, 4-4) started the first set off even, trading points to tie it at 7-7. After two errors from the Chargers, the Giants took control of the first set by going on a 13-point run led by Gracie Fredrickson’s four kills. The Chargers stopped the run with a kill from Kayla Martin, followed by an ace from Bates. However, it wasn’t enough, with the Giants winning the first set 25-12.

“Even when we’re not starting as hot as we maybe want to, we gotta leave that in the rear view mirror as we go through the rest of the game,” said MVL head coach Johanna Kelly.

The Chargers took the first loss to heart and played with fire going into the second set, winning the first 3 points starting with a kill by Hammer.

LSH scored some early points with some errors from MVL but they didn’t let go of the lead going on a 4-point run led by Gunderson with two ace serves back to back to bring the score to 14-5. Later in the set, MVL went on a 8-1 run led by Bates with two kills to win the second set.

The Giants looked promising going into the third set by taking the first 3 points, going on a 5-3 run, but that was soon ended by an error and three ace serves from Bates for a 5-point run to put MVL in front 10-6.

The Chargers and Giants exchanged points, with MVL going on multiple 3-point runs mostly from LSH errors. MVL took the third set with a kill from Martin and two more LSH errors.

The Giants controlled the fourth set early with a 12-6 run, led by Alaina Hutton with two kills and a tip. Bates brought the Chargers back into the game with three ace serves, bringing the score to 12-10. The Chargers went on another run, scoring 8 out of 10 points to take the lead 18-16.

The Giants tried to hold on, tying it up at 18-18 with an ace serve from Anyssa Christ, but Giants downfall came from themselves giving MVL the last 5 points on errors.

MVL is at Sibley East for another conference match on Thursday.