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Greyhounds fall to Clippers in season opener

By Ari Selvey 3 min read

NEW ULM -- While New Ulm Cathedral was swept by Cleveland in its opening prep volleyball match of the season, Cathedral put up a fight in the third set against last year's Section 2A Champion.

The final game was tied at 21 before Cleveland won the final four points of the set to win it 25-21 after Cathedral dropped the first two sets 25-8 and 25-10.

"I just think we did a better job of passing [in the third set]," Cathedral head coach Becky Wilfahrt said. "We were a little more aggressive. The blockers were finally making that connection, and defensively we were getting to more balls. We were getting a lot of touches early on and the blockers just weren't finishing, but I thought we did a good job and made them play a lot more balls then they wanted to. That was our goal, and I think that was the key to it."

Brynn Wilfahrt led the Greyhounds with four kills, two aces and three digs, while Ashlyn Hillesheim had two kills and six digs and Leah Wilson had two kills and three digs. Morgan Beranek had five set assists and three digs, while Maddy Hazuka had a kill and nine digs.

The Clippers went up 3-0 in the first set, with Cleveland setter Jocelyn Kortuem earning her 1,000th career set assist on the third point. Cleveland continued to attack, building a 15-3 lead before Cathedral got its first kill of the match from Hillesheim to cut the lead to 15-5. Cleveland closed out the set with a kill by Melia Sathoff to win 25-8.

Cathedral did earn the first point of the second set and stayed within 10-6 thanks in part to a block from Taylor Lamecker, but Cleveland pulled ahead with a 5-0 run, then scored the final six points of the set to win 25-10.

Game 3 saw Cathedral hold a 5-2 lead early after a pair of ace serves by Brynn Wilfahrt, injecting some energy into the building. A kill by Wilson helped the Greyhounds keep a 9-6 lead, and two kills by Brynn Wilfahrt and an ace by Isabelle Sprenger put Cathedral up 12-8. Cleveland fought back to tie the game at 12, prompting a timeout from Cathedral, and a kill by Hazuka tied the game at 15 before an ace serve by Jayde Altermatt gave Cathedral a 16-15 lead. Cleveland took an 18-16 lead on a kill by Liviana Lee and an ace from Taylor McCabe, but Cathedral fought back once more, with a kill by Wilson helping to tie the game at 20. A kill by Sathoff and a Cleveland error put the score at 21-all, but Cleveland rallied, taking the final four points, including kills by Kortuem, McCabe and Maile Meissner, to complete the sweep.

Coach Wilfahrt said there were lessons to be learned from the early-season tough matchup.

"You know what you're up against in our section this year," she said. "Get it out of the way. We'll see them again in two weeks at Waterville, and then again possibly at the end of the season like we did last year."

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