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Chargers sweep Greyhounds, Black celebrates 1K set assists

By Ari Selvey 4 min read

NEW ULM -- A few days after passing 1,000 career set assists, Minnesota Valley Lutheran's Graysie Black was able to celebrate that achievement with a 25-17, 25-11, 25-11 sweep of New Ulm Cathedral in a nonconference volleyball match Thursday at MVL High School.

"Our passing really helped," Black said of the win. "And our blocking and covering the ball. My hitters were really strong today and they found where the open spots were on the floor."

Black, a sophomore, surpassed the 1,000 career mark in a four-set loss at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial on Tuesday, but was able to show out in the first game back at home with a strong win.

"It means a lot," Black said. "I give credit to my team because it all starts with the back row pass so we can start the offense. I give credit to my hitters too and my coaches for coaching me through and my parents and all the support I have from my family members and MVL."

The MVL career set assists record is 1,847, set by Maddie Pearson in 2020. Black becomes the seventh Charger to surpass 1,000 for her career said that she will continue to push for the record.

"I'm hoping to go far with my team," Black said. "I'm hoping to reach that as a team and I'm hoping I can beat it."

Black recorded 30 more set assists in the game, along with six aces, four blocks and six digs. Olivia Hammer had 11 kills and five digs and Kam Davey had 10 kills and two blocks. Jenna Bates had seven kills and seven digs, and Taryn Gunderson had 19 digs and three aces.

Maddy Hazuka had four kills and eight digs for the Greyhounds, while Jayde Altermatt had three kills and six digs. Morgan Beranek had 15 set assists and six digs.

MVL opened the match with a 7-0 run, with Black recording four consecutive aces. Another ace by Gunderson put the Chargers up 10-2 and drew a Cathedral timeout. The Chargers went up by as much as 18-5 on a block by Emmalie Fluegge before Cathedral began to push back, going on a 4-0 run with kills from Altermatt and Brynn Wilfahrt to cut the lead to 17-10. The Greyhounds continued to hang around, with two more kills by Wilfahrt keeping the score at 21-12, then a kill by Hazuka helped cut the lead down to 24-17. But a kill by Davey ended the match with a kill.

Cathedral had no such runs in the next two sets as MVL cleaned things up.

"We had a lot of energy and we had lots of talking on the court," Black said. "Our mental toughness was really strong."

A pair of kills and a block by Davey had MVL up 8-4 early in Set 2 as Cathedral called a timeout, then the Chargers went on a 4-1 run, with kills by Davey, Bates and Hammer, to take a 12-5 lead. A trio of MVL errors and a Altermatt kill broke up the run, but MVL continued to push with two kills from Hammer making it a 17-8 game. The Chargers closed out the set with a 6-0 run, with Bates and Davey both earning two kills to win 25-11.

The Chargers continued the momentum with a 10-1 run to open the third set, with Hammer leading the way with two kills. Cathedral got a kill from Hazuka to make it an 11-3 game, and two aces from Gunderson gave the Chargers a 14-3 lead. A pair of kills by Hazuka saw the score at 17-7, but MVL continued to push as a strong spike by Bates helped wrap up the 25-11 victory.

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