ELEVATION — Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman’s Bethany Petrowiak (12) elevates to tap a spike over a block set by Alden-Conger’s Macy Mattson during Valley Conference volleyball action Tuesday night in Northrop. The Jaguars’ Keira Benck (far left) and libero Ashley Singleton, along with the Knights’ Cearra Grunzke (15), watch the action near the net. (Photo by Greg Abel)
NORTHROP — The Alden-Conger Knights stayed in the race for the Valley Conference volleyball crown with a 25-21, 25-16, 26-28, 25-9 win over the Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars on Tuesday night at Martin Luther High School in Northrop.
Alden-Conger and Cleveland are both 6-0 in the Valley Conference team standings. Appropriately, the two teams will meet Friday, Oct. 13, in Cleveland.
“We try to be aggressive on every point,” Knights head coach Jolene Bute said. “When we practice, I tell the girls to be aggressive. It paid off for us tonight.”
“We played hard, except for the final game,” Jaguars head coach TJ Williams said. “They kept hitting a cross-court kill and for some reason we couldn’t stop them. They’re a very good team and they’re attacking hurt us.”
The Knights had three girls with a plethora of kills — Cearra Grunzke had 13 kills, Alyvia Newman had 12 and Ashley Newman had 7.
Madison Hendrickson finished with 24 set assists for the Knights.
For the Jaguars, Bethany Petrowiak had six kills, while Brianna Petrowiak had5 kills.
Keira Benck had a team-high 8 set assists, and Lindsey Diegnau had 7.
Alyvia Newman was a team-best 18 of 18 serving for the Knights, while Ellen Merkouris was 17 of 17 serving with one ace, which came during the 10-point blitz at the end of Game 4.
Grunzke was 17 of 18 serving and Hendrickson was 15 of 17 serving.
For the Jaguars, Lewis was a team-best 17 of 18 serving with three aces, and Diegnau was 13 of 17 serving with three aces.
Defensively, Madisen Lewis had six blocks for the Jaguars, and Merkouris had 13 digs for the Knights.
Game 1 was a close affair. The Jaguars fell behind 16-14 and 21-20 before they drew even at 21.
The Knights followed Bute’s philosophy and kept attacking.
The aggressiveness allowed them to win the next four points, including an Ashley Newman kill that put them ahead 23-21.
The Knights were too tough across the front court as the kills kept coming. They eventually wore down the Jaguars as Libby Bell served six straight points late in Game 2 to put the Knights on the brink of the win.
The Knights earned a sideout to win the game and go up 2-0 in the match.
The Jaguars kept clawing their way back and had to earn a few more points than the standard 25 to win Game 3 and force a Game 4.
The Jaguars fought back from a 24-23 deficit to tie it 24-all and Game 3 was tied 25-all and 26-all before the home team won the final two points to win the thrilling 28-26 game.
The Jaguars ran out of gas in Game 4 and it was all Knights. Merkouris served 10 straight points down the stretch to push the Knights to the brink of the conference victory.
Alden-Conger (17-2) plays host to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial next Tuesday night at 7 p.m., in Alden.
Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman (8-16) travels to Lake Crystal on Thursday night to battle Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at 7 p.m. in another Valley Conference match.
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Fairmont 3, St. James Area 1 — Brylee Miller, Nevaeh Rahm and Danika Eisenmenger combined for 32 kills to power the Cardinals to respective game wins of 25-18, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18 over the Saints during Big South Conference action Tuesday night In St. James.
Miller pounded out a team-best 13 kills to complement 18 points — including a team-high four aces — from a serving perspective. Miller also helped pace the Cardinals’ defensive performance by making a team-best 36 digs to go with four solo blocks.
Rahm belted 10 kills to complement generating a team-high five solo blocks for Fairmont, while Eisenmenger contributed nine kills and 15 service points, including two aces.
Grace Pendergast distributed a team-leading 19 set assists for the Cardinals to go with making 17 digs and chipping in three kills.
Mariah Moeller served 14 points, including a pair of aces, to complement recording 24 digs for Fairmont, while Leslie Zarling collected six digs, five set assists and 11 service points.
Ava Rodning contributed nine digs and 10 service points to the red-and-white’s winning performance, while teammate Meredith Nemmers chipped in eight digs.
Fairmont (3-15) plays host to conference rival Blue Earth Area at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont.
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Waseca 3, Blue Earth Area 1 — The Bluejays rallied for a respective 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 25-11 victory over the Bucs during Big South Conference action Monday night in Waseca.
Autumn Gordon drilled eight kills and notched three ace blocks for BEA, while Tailor Douglas pounded six kills, made 12 digs and serving 7 of 8.
Hailey Becker collected five kills, distributed 17 set assists, made 10 digs, tallied four ace blocks and went 7 of 10 serving for the Bucs, while Taylor Klabunde generated a team-best 22 digs to go with a team-leading 13 of 13 at the service line.
Katherine Armon made a dozen digs for BEA, Kylee Eckmann smacked four kills and Berkley Hagedorn made six digs and went 10 of 11 serving.
Blue Earth Area (5-12) travels to Fairmont on Thursday night for another Big South Conference contest.
