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Chargers stuff Knights in four

By Ari Selvey 6 min read

NEW ULM -- The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers made an early-season statement with a 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 25-18 win over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's in Monday’s nonconference volleyball match.

"We were really excited to play this team," MVL's Ellie Kaesermann said. "I think just the energy from the whole team and the space and the crowd was going crazy, and it just kept us wanting to play and do great and just keep going."

St. Mary's recently won the Sleepy Eye Tournament on Saturday, a tournament where MVL placed third. The teams didn't play directly against each other during the tournament, but on Monday, the Chargers flipped the expectation with the four-set victory.

"St. Mary's has been such a tough team for years now," MVL head coach Johanna Kelly said. "They have such great athletes, such great coaching. We knew this was going to be a battle, and the girls were amped up to battle. They were really looking forward to it, they love playing good athletes, good competition, and it was a good game."

MVL set the tone early at the net, putting up a strong block all match long that slowed down the St. Mary's attack.

"A lot of footwork training, the mechanics of blocking and being super-diligent about pressing into the court and not just anywhere at all," Kelly said. "That was really instrumental. As far as tracking where the hitters like to hit and executing on the block."

With that early presence, MVL was able to keep the advantage just enough to come away with some narrow set wins early.

"It give a lot of confidence to everybody," Kelly said. "Not only to themselves that they can get the block going, but the defense then is able to adjust to the block. Even if it's just a block touch, it slows it down enough for our passers to get underneath the ball for a good pass."

Four MVL players finished with multiple blocks on the night, led by Kamryn Davey with four, allowing with Emmalie Fluegge and Graysie Black with three and Kaesermann with two.

"We just read the passes and we just try to adjust as the game goes," Kaesermann said. "A block is a huge part of the game, so we want to slow them down with the blocks."

Also for MVL, Jenna Bates had 17 kills and 13 digs, while Olivia Hammer had six kills and eight digs. Black had 34 set assists, 16 digs and two aces to go with her three blocks, while Davey had five kills along with her four blocks. Taryn Gunderson had 19 digs and two aces, and Kaesermann had six kills.

Morgan Mathiowetz led the Knights with 11 kills and 14 digs, while Audra Hoffmann had eight kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Olivia Schieffert had nine kills and eight digs, while Brynne Ibberson had 23 set assists and five digs.

The energy in the MVL gym started off high with both the crowd and the teams.

"We definitely talked about it in the locker room," Kaesermann said. "We've been waiting for this game for a while now. It just brought the energy with the environment and the team together."

The first rally of the game was a long one, but a Kaesermann block ended it with a point for MVL. St. Mary's took eight of the next 11 points to go up 8-4, with Morgan Mathiowetz earning two kills and Schieffert recording a block, a kill and an ace. A kill by Ibberson made it a 12-6 game as MVL called a timeout. The Chargers slowly climbed back, cutting the lead down to 17-14 with help from kills by Davey and Bates as St. Mary's called a timeout of it's own. The Knights went on a quick 3-0 run after the timeout, but MVL continued to push, tying the game at 21 on a kill by Fluegge, ten taking the lead on a kill by Bates and a St. Mary's error. An ace by Gunderson and another error wrapped up the set with an MVL win.

Set 2 was close early, with MVL holding an 8-5 advantage after a pair of aces by Lilli Olson. MVL maintained that lead to a 14-10 game as St. Mary's called a timeout, then the Knights made a push to tie it at 18 with kills from Schieffert and Morgan Mathiowetz. A block and two kills by Hoffmann helped the Knights take a 23-21 lead, prompting a timeout from the Chargers, who rallied to close out the set with a 5-1 run with kills from Fluegge and Kaesermann as Black ended the set with an ace.

MVL took a 9-5 lead on a block from Fluegge in Set 3, but St. Mary's found some rhythm, going up 13-11 after kills by Nell Weiss and Morgan Mathiowetz and an ace by Taylor Mathiowetz. MVL called a timeout, by a kill by Schieffert pushed the lead out further to 15-11. A block by Hoffmann and another ace by Taylor Mathiowetz saw St. Mary's up 21-17 as MVL called another timeout. MVL cut the lead to 22-20 with kills by Davey and Hammer, but St. Mary's closed out the game with a kill and an ace by Hoffmann and a kill by Mathiowetz to win 25-21.

But MVL didn't let dropping the third set slow its momentum, coming back ready for the fourth.

"We've been the type of team where we've had to work on our mental toughness," Kelly said. "Taking the good with the bad is important. With a team like St. Mary's, there's going to be a lot of things that don't go your way, because they're going to attack, they're going to attack, they're going to attack. But keeping our heads on our shoulders and coming back from a loss in that third set really propelled us into that fourth set with and edge. That's what brought us through to the end.

After battling back and forth early, MVL went up 15-11 with help from a block by Kaesermann. A trio of kills by Bates put the Chargers up 21-16, and MVL finished strong with kills by Fluegge and Bates to take the match.

MVL moved to 8-1 with Monday’s win, while St. Mary's dropped to 9-1.

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