Staff photo by Ali Selby St. Mary’s Ella Pollard (11) and Kaylee Nelson (14) go for a block against Granada-Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther’s London Bowers (7) during a Tomahawk Valley Conference crossover volleyball match at St. Mary’s High School on Tuesday.
SLEEPY EYE — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s played solidly throughout the match, winning 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 over Granada Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther in a Tomahawk Valley Conference crossover volleyball match on Tuesday.
Throughout the game, St. Mary’s consistently varied its shots on net – long, quick and back – to confuse the Jaguars’ blockers.
“I thought we did a good job of that, especially in Game 1,” St. Mary’s coach Kari Hoffman said. “We’ve been working on that a lot in practice. I think it’s showing what we’re working on in practice. Our guys are doing a good job of getting out there and blocking. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
GHEC/T/ML head coach TJ Williams was also impressed with St. Mary’s front line, noting that the Jaguars haven’t seen them play like they’re doing in a while.
“They make some moves around the net that we don’t see a lot in our conference,” Williams said. “It makes it a little tough with blockers moving in all different directions and trying to find someone to block. We played decently well, but we still have room to improve.”
Williams added that the Jaguars made too many mistakes during the game that cost them the win.
“We made more mistakes tonight than usual,” he said, “but volleyball is a sport of mistakes. The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. I felt like we made the fewest mistakes.”
Kylie Nelson led the Knights with nine kills while Morgan Maciowetz had eight kills, 13 digs and four aces. Josie Helget had 17 set assists and eight digs, Natalie Fisher had 15 digs and four aces. Brynn Iverson had 12 set assists.
For GHEC/T/ML, Londyn Bowers had 11 kills and two blocks and Madisen Lewis had three kills and one block. Keira Benk and Terin Dengler each had three kills.
Nelson’s blocks helped St. Mary’s jump out to an early 7-3 lead in Set 1. The Jaguars struggled to overcome the Knights’ blocks in the set, with Nelson getting some quick strong kills.
“We work hard in practice, we try our hardest and it shows on the court,” Nelson said. “We just have to keep repeating that on the court and do our best and keep working hard.”
A spike from Nelson gave St. Mary’s a 14-8 lead, and the teams were neck and neck from then on, with St. Mary’s winning on a block by Amelia Schwartz.
The Jaguars jumped out to an early lead in the second set, taking an 8-3 advantage on a kill from Nora Chase. St. Mary’s called a timeout, but GHEC/T/ML held on to an 18-11 lead. After a long point, Reese Hoffman got a kill to start a 9-2 run to tie the score, but the Jaguars held on with a kill from Bowers to win 25-21.
The teams were deadlocked early in the third set, with St. Mary’s leading 11-9, before GHEC/T/ML went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-11 lead.
During the run, St. Mary’s setter Iverson was hit hard in the face by the ball and had to leave the game. Despite the injury, St. Mary’s fought through and earned a narrow 25-22 victory on a powerful kill by Maciowetz.
“I think in a way they were playing for our daughter, who was hurt,” Hoffman said. “They wanted to win for her because they felt so bad about what happened. And it was their regret that made them hang in there.”
In the fourth set, St. Mary’s gradually built a lead, 14-8, on a block by Amelia Schwartz and a kill by Nelson. The Jaguars took a timeout and fought back, tying the score at 20-20 on blocks by Kayla Mattson and Bowers. Fisher made a key dig on the next point and a long battle ended with a Jaguars error, GHEC/T/ML took the lead, this time on a block by Addison Nowicki, as St. Mary’s took a timeout at 22-21. St. Mary’s won four of the next five points and a kill by Maria Schwartz sealed the win, 25-23.
St. Mary’s (10-4) will travel to Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop on Thursday, while GHEC/T/ML (11-5) will host Mankato Loyola on Thursday.
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