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Chargers down Wolverines for Senior Night

By Ari Selvey 5 min read

NEW ULM -- After taking the first two games of a South Central Conference volleyball match against Sibley East, Minnesota Valley Lutheran suffered a setback as it dropped the third set.

But the Chargers stayed strong, going on a 9-0 run early in the next set to win the match in four, defeating the Wolverines 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17 on Tuesday.

"Just a reminder to them that this is all within your control," MVL head coach Johanna Kelly said. "Minimize errors, execute where you can and don't let off the gas pedal. That was the conversation between sets three and four."

The match was also senior night for the Chargers, and it was especially significant for MVL senior Jenna Bates.

"It's really important to me because my home town is Arlington," Bates said. "I used to go to Sibley East, so it's super cool to play the people I used to go to school with. It's super cool to get the opportunity to do that."

Bates led the Chargers with 20 kills, nine digs and three blocks, while fellow senior Olivia Hammer had 11 kills, 13 digs and three aces. Senior Ellie Kaesermann had eight kills, four digs and two blocks, and Graysie Black had 38 set assists, 11 digs and three kills. Morgan Black added nine digs.

Addy Odenthal led the Wolverines with 10 kills, while Maelynn Thoele had six kills and six blocks. Hadley Willmsen had six kills, and Adie Taaffe had five blocks. Kennedy Hahn had 18 set assists. Harper Drexler had 12 set assists and two aces, and Liv Kennard had 16 digs and three aces.

The Wolverines put up a strong block on the Chargers all match long as the MVL hitters had to work to get around Sibley East defenders.

"Every time in practice, I continue to tell them, worry about our first job," Sibley East head coach Gabi Schwirtz said. "We have a job right away, and when the ball is over there, our first job is to block. We always take pride in that."

Kelly said her team had to become more intentional with placement to work against the block.

"They had our middles and every once in a while our outsides on lock with the block," she said. "It was really a matter of being smart with the placement of the ball as far as where we're running our offense out of and utilizing all our hitters whether they are in the front row or back row."

MVL went on a 10-3 run, capped off by an ace from Hammer, to open Set 1 as Sibley East called a timeout. The Wolverines held the advantage at 7 as a block by Stella Taaffe put the score at 18-11, but a kill by Bates helped the Chargers stretch the lead out to 23-13. An ace by senior Caitlyn Kock ended the set with a 25-17 MVL victory.

Sibley East was strong early in Set 2 as kills by Thoele, Pautz and Willmsen put the Wolverines up 7-4 and the block continued to bother MVL.

But the Chargers worked to get around it, taking a 12-11 lead on a tip kill by Black.

"We just had to figure out where they were blocking us specifically," Bates said. "We had to figure out where their open spots were, especially where we could tip."

An ace by Hammer put the Chargers up 19-16 and forced a Sibley East timeout. A pair of kills by Addie Taaffe kept the game close for Sibley East, but Hammer closed out the game with a kill for the 25-21 victory.

Sibley East again started off strong in Set 3, going up 12-7 on a kill by Willmsen.

"I think we were more aggressive with our play," Schwirtz said. "My players, I told them, 'We can never settle.' I put in a few new people that I thought could change some things up, and they did it."

The Chargers fought to cut the lead to 13-12 on a kill by Bates, but a kill by Karmyn Dose helped the Wolverines push the lead back to 15-12 as the Chargers called a timeout. A kill by Thoele saw Sibley East up 20-17 as the Chargers called their second timeout, and a block by Dose and a kill by Odenthal closed out the set with a 25-21 Sibley East win.

But MVL came back with purpose in the fourth set, and after Sibley East took the first 2 points of the set, the Chargers came out with a 9-0 run.

"I think we really had to come out of our shells," Bates said. "I think we were being super timid. Especially in the third set, we were slowing down. We just had to play our game overall."

Sibley East cut the lead down to 9-7 with a 5-0 run of its own, but the Chargers stayed ahead with a 6-0 run, led by three kills from Bates, to go up 15-7. Sibley East fought to cut the lead down to 16-11 after a block by Dose, but MVL continued to push, as a pair of kills by Hammer and another ace by Kock gave it a 20-12 advantage. Kills by Kaesermann and Bates wrapped up the 25-17 MVL win.

MVL (17-7, 4-5) has one final game in the regular season as it hosts Le Sueur-Henderson Monday before section playoffs begin.

"Keeping our mental game in check and playing our game," Kelly said. "Not second guessing ourselves. A lot of things come into play when we talk about success for the rest of the season, but that's where it's going to start."

Sibley East (5-21, 2-7) also has one regular season game at home against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial on Monday before sections.

"Very important we take it game by game," Schwirtz said. "We still have a conference game on Monday, that will be our senior night too, our last home game. I always just take our practice before each game and take it as it comes."

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