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LCWM serves up four-set loss to TCU in 2AA tourney

LAKE CRYSTAL -- Down 10-16 in the first set of a Section 2AA Volleyball Tournament match against fifth-seeded Tri-City United on Thursday, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial called a timeout to regroup.

The Knights came out of that timeout with a 5-0 run, including three consecutive aces by libero Gretta Munson, to take an 11-10 lead.

The Knights continued to pressure the Titans with the serve for the rest of the match, riding the momentum to a 25-23, 25-18, 17-25, 25-22 victory.

"It means a lot," LCWM head coach Kim Thorson said. "The girls have worked a lot all season to get to this point. Their goal is to take it one game at a time, go as far as we can in playoffs and keep playing as a team."

The serve was a tool for the Knights all match long as LCWM earned eight aces as a team, including four by Munson.

"Serving is huge," Thorson said. "You give away free points if you miss a serve. It's really huge. Gretta Munson did a great job of going in and getting those aces. It kind of sparked the fire in the girls, got us going. Serving is a huge part of the game."

Alice Hollerich led the Knights with 13 kills, while Maddie Madsen had nine kills. Nev Parsons had nine kills, and Reese Palmer had 26 set assists.

Despite the strong serving, LCWM fell behind again in Set 1 as TCU took a 20-15 lead after the Knights' initial run. But again, three ace serves by Munson helped pull the Knights out as LCWM went on a 7-0 run to go up 22-20.

"Serving is the first part of the game," Palmer said. "It's the thing you can control the most, so it's really important to get that over and in. When we do that, we're really successful. We get on runs, and that's what really helps us be a successful team."

A kill by Hollerich and a TCU error ended off the first set with a 25-22 LCWM win.

LCWM continued to push into Set 2, as a kill by Katie Hanson and an ace by Callie Mueller put the Knights up 7-4. The Knights went on a 6-0 run soon after, with Parsons, Madsen, Hanson and Palmer all picking up kills in the stretch to go up 13-6. TCU worked to cut the lead back down to 18-16 to force a LCWM timeout, but the Knights came out with another 6-0 run, with Parsons earning a kill, to go up 24-16, going on to win 25-18.

The Titans came back in Set 3, holding a narrow 9-7 lead early. The game went nine consecutive rallies without consecutive points by either team, but just as the Knights were able to tie the game at 13 on an ace by Munson, TCU ripped off a 5-0 run to go up 18-13. LCWM was never able to recover as the Titans won Set 3 25-17.

But the Knights weren't ready to back down as they came into the fourth set.

"You can't play safe," Thorson said. "You have to go out every time, play with confidence, and just take care of what we need to get done."

After an initial slow start, with TCU going up 3-0, LCWM fought back to tie the game at 12 after a kill by Hollerich. TCU went on a quick 3-0 run to go up 16-13, but a timeout settled down the Knights, and a 5-0 run gave them a 20-17 lead as Hollerich picked up a kill and a block.

"We just decided to play to win," Palmer said. "We were playing to not lose that third set, and once we decided to play to win, that's what really helped us."

TCU tied it again at 21, but a kill by Hollerich helped the Knights to go up 23-21, then a kill by Parsons and a TCU error gave LCWM the set and match win.

"We've worked really hard this season," Palmer said. "We're looking forward to keep playing and giving it all we got on Monday."

LCWM (20-6) will play against top-seeded Southwest Christian Monday at 6 p.m. at New Prague High School.

"We're going to have to go out and play solid all the way around," Thorson said. "We're going to have to serve well, hit well and probably play the best defense we've ever played. They have some really strong hitters out there, but the girls have it in them. They have the talent and the ability to go out and play with anybody, they just have to believe in themselves and do it."