“Holy Family Catholic came out swinging,” MVL head coach Johanna Kelly said. “They had a huge block. It’s an honor to play such good competition like that. It challenges you to step up to that competition and that challenge. To that point, it is a challenge.”

MVL did have some strong moments, especially in the first two sets, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to escape the sweep.

“When we were remembering to play at our pace and our tempo, keeping the pressure on, that’s when we were most successful,” Kelly said. “It was when things got kind of messy that we started struggling a little bit. We talked a little bit throughout the season about the concept of getting comfortable with the messy stuff, the chaos. A lot of those kind of things didn’t go our way today.”

Olivia Hammer led the Chargers with 11 kills and five digs, while Jenna Bates had nine kills, five digs and an ace. Marley Schauer had seven kills, two digs, a block and an ace, while Graysie had 30 set assists, six digs and an ace. Taryn Gunderson added 14 digs.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Katelyn Flatau (16) gets a hit around Holy Family Catholic’s Vivian Kloos (14) and Sam Staloch (14) during a Section 2AA Volleyball match Monday at MVL High School.

MVL fell behind 5-1 early in Set 1 and never recovered, though kills by Hammer and Bates and a pair of HFC errors kept it a closer 9-4 match. The teams traded points for several serves, with Bates earning an ace, but the Chargers continued to fall behind 16-8. MVL went on a small 3-0 run with the help of a kill from Hammer to cut the lead to 16-11, and the teams went back and forth again, with MVL calling a timeout down 20-14. The Chargers made a pushback, with kills by Hammer, Ellie Kaesermann and Schauer cutting the lead down to 23-20. Another kill by Schauer had the score at 24-22, but HFC’s Gabby Land ended the set with a kill.

MVL kept things closer early in Set 2, but HFC still held onto a small 6-4 lead after several serves. MVL tied it back up at 8 with a pair of kills by Hammer, but HFC took the lead once more, staying ahead by a few points until MVL called a timeout down 19-16. MVL made a push to tie it at 19 with two kills from Schauer and an ace from Black, but HFC responded with a 3-0 run of its own. The Fire held on down the stretch, despite another kill from Schauer, and won the set 25-21.

MVL took a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of kills from Hammer in the third set, but HFC went on a 4-0 run and a 6-0 run down the stretch to put MVL away. Senior Katelyn Flatau got one final kill for MVL as they fell 25-14 in the final set.

MVL finishes its season with a 13-14 record.

“I’m really proud of the change from last year to this year,” Kelly said. “We’ve just improved all around, but it’s good to see on paper too. Going from not-so-great of a record last year to having 13 wins this year. I’m really proud of them, and of course you hope for a better playoff run, but just keeping in mind that the season was still a successful season regardless.”