Local Sports

Raiders turn tables, down Mustangs in 2A tourney

NICOLLET -- After losing its final regular season game in four sets to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, last Monday, Nicollet was ready to show that the Mustangs hadn't seen its best.

The Raiders got that chance a week later, hosting the ninth-seeded Mustangs as the eighth seed. There, Nicollet earned its redemption in style, sweeping BLHS 25-22, 25-13, 25-17 Monday in the opening round of the Section 2A Volleyball Tournament.

"We had a really good week at practice," Nicollet's Madison Kettner said. "We played with intensity, and we stayed aggressive. Last time playing against them, we did not play very well, so we knew what we had to do to beat them next time. I think just playing with intensity and wanting to win."

Nicollet head coach Sara Gieseke said her team was glad for the chance to redeem its loss from a week ago.

"We knew we could have played a lot better than we did last Monday when we were at their home court," she said. "We were pretty quiet and didn't hit as well as we did tonight when we were there. I was really proud of the girls tonight. They kept pounding away, didn't slow up at all and were aggressive the whole match."

Nicollet libero Chloe Kachelmeier said that the team's energy was different in the game.

"Our hits were on, we got a lot of digs up," she said. "None of that was happening in the regular season game, so this was a good win for us ... I knew we could win. Competing against them again -- I'm happy."

Kettner had a standout performance in the match, leading the Raiders with 16 kills, 11 digs, an ace and a block. Also for Nicollet, Jazmyn Goettlicher had nine kills, while Megan Soost had eight kills, four digs and two blocks. Zoie Rengstorf had 23 set assists and four digs, and Lydia Martens had 16 set assists and four digs. Kachelmeier added 15 digs.

BLHS had a lead early in Set 1, going up 8-5 after a trio of kills by Lauren Hubin. Nicollet fought back, taking an 11-10 lead on a kill by Kettner, then going on a 3-0 run to go up 14-12 as BLHS called a timeout. The Mustangs cut the lead to 14-13 on another Hubin kill, but another 3-0 Raiders run, capped off by an ace by Cheyenne Klockziem, put Nicollet up 20-16 as the Mustangs called another timeout. The Raiders took a 23-19 lead on a kill by Soost, and while Hubin fought back with a trio of kills, an error ended the match with a 25-22 Nicollet win.

The Raiders kept that momentum right into the second set, going up 5-1 on a block by Goettlicher. A block by Payton Otto made it an 11-6 Raiders lead. Nicollet stayed in rhythm, going on to roll to a 25-13 Set 2 win.

"I think the girls were very excited to be playing at home one more time," Gieseke said. "Just the excitement of playing the way we knew we could play. They didn't have any concerns about playing better than we did last week."

Nicollet didn't let up in the third set, taking a 9-5 lead on a kill by Klockziem. A kill by Brielle Osborne made it a 15-8 game, then a kill by Otto saw the score at 18-11. After a kill by Kettner made it a 21-14 game, BLHS made one final push, putting together a 3-0 run as Hubin earned a kill, but the Raiders closed out the match with a 4-0 run, with Osborne earning the match-ending kill.

"We stayed very aggressive swinging," Kettner said. "We didn't let up at all. Our serve-receive was pretty good. We just stayed aggressive the whole time."

Nicollet (14-11) now plays at top-seeded Cleveland in the next round of the tournament. BLHS ends its season with a 10-15 record.