Volleyball roundup: Alexandria loses first Section 8AAA match of the season

The Alexandria volleyball team (6-4, 3-1 Section 8AAA) lost its first Section 8AAA match of the season on Tuesday on the road at Rocori (13-3, 4-0 Section 8AAA), 3-0.

Rocori and Alexandria are two of the top three highest-rated teams in Section 8AAA in the QRF rankings on Minnesota-scores.net, behind Detroit Lakes (11-1, 1-0 Section 8AAA). Rocori is ranked No. 6 in the QRF rankings, while Alexandria is ranked No. 16.

The Cardinals came close to taking a set against the Spartans as they lost sets one and three, 25-23.

Hadley Thul led the attack for the Cardinals with 12 kills, while Maddi Buysse had nine and Kiya Issendorf dished out 23 assists.

The Cardinals kick off a three-match homestand on Thursday at 7 p.m. against St. Cloud Apollo (1-9, 0-5 Section 8AAA).

Alexandria swept St. Cloud Apollo, 3-0, on the road on Aug. 30.

Alexandria - 23 13 23 - 0

Rocori - 25 25 25 - 3 

ALEXANDRIA STATS - Kiya Issendorf, 23 assists, 3 kills, 8 digs; Addie Rossum, 3 aces, 8 kills, 1 block, 10 assists, 8 digs; Hadley Thul, 1 ace, 12 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 9 digs, Maddi Buysse - 9 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 4 digs; Charlotte Lempka, 6 kills, 3 blocks; Julia Doherty, 1 assist, 9 digs

ASHBY - With a win on the road against the Ashby volleyball team (1-11, 1-7 Section 6A), the Wheaton-Herman-Norcross Warriors improved to 4-12 on the season.

The Warriors won the match in a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-8, 25-15)

“Our movement was better and the girls played cohesively,” Ashby head coach Hayley Stevens said. “We struggled with key serves and lost the ball when we most needed it and WHN capitalized on that. We repeatedly put the ball too close to the net where they were able to use it to their advantage with height that we were unmatched with and that made it harder to pick up balls.”

Ryleigh Brendmoen had 10 digs, six kills, an ace, and an assist for the Arrows, while Haleigh Brendmoen had two digs and 10 assists. Livy Johnson dug out two balls and had one kill while Lucy Ohren had 12 digs and an ace. BrookeLinn Finkelson had five kills, two digs, and a block and Alyssa Johnson dug up five balls.

Ashby returns to the court for a match on Thursday at Swanville (6-5, 3-2 Section 5A) at 7:15 p.m.

“Volleyball is such a mental game and that is something that we continue to focus on along with skills each day at practice and we see it coming together here and there,” Stevens said.

W-H-N - 25 25 25 - 3

Ashby - 18 8 15 - 0 

(Stats not yet available)

Eden Valley-Watkins (12-8) 3, Osakis (3-12) 0

Brandon-Evansville (8-7) 3, Rothsay (5-6) 0