Eagles clean up, sweep Tigers
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau From left to right, New Ulm’s Abbi Jensen (16), Lily Poehler and Gracie Baker (7) celebrate Mazy Kitzberger’s (6) third-set tying ace late in Monday’s nonconference volleyball match against the Hutchinson Tigers at New Ulm High School. Also pictured far right is setter Mckenna Hulke.
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Calli Koop spikes the ball for a kill during the second set of Monday’s nonconference match.
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau From left to right, New Ulm’s Abbi Jensen (16), Lily Poehler and Gracie Baker (7) celebrate Mazy Kitzberger’s (6) third-set tying ace late in Monday’s nonconference volleyball match against the Hutchinson Tigers at New Ulm High School. Also pictured far right is setter Mckenna Hulke.
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Calli Koop spikes the ball for a kill during the second set of Monday’s nonconference match.
Trending
NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Eagles didn't play Monday's nonconference volleyball match like a team that had five matches over the weekend -- not to mention the 225 miles of driving that went with it.
They did play with plenty of that weekend momentum, though.
After finishing fifth in a Century High School volleyball tournament in Rochester on Saturday, the Eagles returned to their home gym and earned a shutout, defeating the Hutchinson Tigers 25-17, 25-21, 25-22.
"I'm very happy with this team," Eagles head coach Christine Skoglund said. "It's so easy for me to be very versatile with this team. … We have switched up our rotation. On Saturday we went through about three different rotations until we got our groove on and we won three. So now we've moved Lily [Poehler] from setter to outside and that's helping us a lot. A couple other people have switched to right side.
"I'm doing a 5-1 right now with Mckenna Hulke because that worked on Saturday and it worked tonight. So if it's not broken, we're not going to try to fix it. These girls want to win and have such positive attitudes. They hustle and they work really hard, so it's been a fun start."
Poehler led the Eagles' attack on Monday with 11 kills while adding 13 digs, while Hulke had six set assists, 12 digs, two blocks and two kills. Mazy Kitzberger added two aces and 10 digs for the Eagles, while Calli Koop had two blocks, Lauren Hintz had 12 digs and Gracie Baker had 12 digs.
The Eagles capitalized on several early attack errors by Hutchinson in the first set to take a quick 5-1 lead before getting their first kill from Poehler to go up 6-1. The lead stuck around 5 points until the Eagles capped off a 5-0 run with a block by Lara Williams to lead 20-10. New Ulm ended the set strong with a kill from Hulke to take a 1-0 match lead.
Set 2 saw Hutchinson start off with a kill for the lead, but the Eagles got a 5-0 run after to jump back in front. The Eagles increased their lead to 14-8, but the Tigers hung around to tie it and then take a 16-15 lead on back-to-back kills by Kylie Neuberger.
New Ulm recaptured the lead moments later and increased it to 21-18 on a kill by Koop to force a Hutchinson timeout. The Eagles got a late kill and then block by Leah Brustad to lead 24-19, but the Tigers got a block from Dalilah Mackenthun and an ace from Emelia Thode to stay in the game. An attack error, however, ended the set and put the Eagles up 2-0.
Hutchinson appeared at its strongest in the third set, going on a 6-0 run early on to lad 12-9 and force an Eagles timeout. The run saw two kills from Piper Dion and a block from Braelyn Jeseritz.
New Ulm stopped the run out of the timeout with a much-needed kill by Poehler, but the Tigers kept their lead and extended it to 18-14 on an ace from Brooklyn Stamer. That 4-point lead was Hutchinson's largest lead of the night.
"They were starting to tip more, so we made sure that our left back and right back stayed up on those hits," Skoglund said of the third set. "But also our hitting and blocking went down that set. Our hitter-setter connection was a little off, and so we've been working on it. To Mckenna Hulke's credit, she has not set on a 5-1 since like seventh grade, but she's doing an amazing job. She's a smart setter, a smart player, so that's what happened in that position. So we're still working on that connection. The third set we kind of got down with that, but then we rallied back, so it was great."
In no hurry to burn another timeout, Skoglund watched her Eagles cut their deficit to 1 after Hutchinson secured its 4-point lead. The Eagles eventually tied it at 20-all on an ace by Kitzberger, prompting a Hutchinson timeout.
A Hutchinson violation and another ace from Kitzberger had New Ulm rolling and up 22-20, forcing the Tigers to use another timeout. Out of the timeout, New Ulm got a kill from Poehler and another Hutchinson violation had New Ulm up 24-20. Hutchinson got a pair of points back on an error and a New Ulm violation, but Poehler got the match-ending point on a kill.
"I think our players fed off the crowd," Skoglund said. "The crowd was fantastic. There's so many positives, but I want to say it's a serving and passing game and our serving was much better this game and our serve receive was much better."
New Ulm's busy start to the season continues at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night back at New Ulm High School against Belle Plaine.