Volleyball roundup: Chargers, Lakers win five-setters, while Alexandria sweeps Apollo

EVANSVILLE — The Brandon-Evansville volleyball team (9-7) got a five-set win over section and Little Eight Conference rival Underwood (8-6) on Thursday night.

Both teams went back and forth before the Chargers won 15-7 in the fifth set to improve to 4-2 in the LEC.

“I liked that we came ready to play,” B-E head coach Kelly Olson said. “I saw a different team than we were not only from a month ago, but we were also different from Monday (in a 3-1 loss to New York Mills). The biggest difference for us was two fold. First, we played much better team defense. Our ability to block effectively and pick balls up off those blocks was much better. We also did a much better job of reading the hitters from the back row. Getting a few more touches on offense gave a few more attacks. I felt in the sets we won, we had good pressure on Underwood. We played with more focus.”

Olson felt the Chargers let set four slip away, but they responded in the fifth to secure the win.

“Underwood was on the fence and could’ve lost that (fourth) set, but they held on and in the end really took it to us,” Olson said. “Even set five was a roller coaster with us jumping to a 5-2 lead only to see them tie it back up at 5. We fought through a tough stretch there in set five and really played well to finish them off at 15-7. Overall, it was a fun match to be a part of and we look forward to trying to get better moving into a road match on Tuesday in Sebeka and hosting Wheaton on Thursday next week.”

West Central Area (13-5) had beaten Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta 3-1 on Sept. 1, but the Tigers responded in the rematch by controlling things in a 3-0 sweep.

Morris Area (5-5) won 25-10, 25-15 and 25-20.

“A good lesson. We need to keep getting better,” WCA head coach Melissa Foslien said. “Things did not go our way all night. It’s frustrating to lose, but here is where we have to grow individually and as a team. Morris was the better team tonight.”

MORRIS AREA 3, WCA 0

(25-10, 25-15, 25-20)

WCA - Izzy Puchalski - 8-8 serving, 7 digs, 4 kills, 1 block; Macy Grosz - 10-11 serving, 1 ace, 18 assists; Whitney Westrom - 7-8 serving, 3 kills; Mya Foslien - 5-6 serving, 12 digs, 7 kills; Hayley Schmall - 4-5 serving, 2 kills; Addison Staples - 2 kills

Minnewaska (6-6) lost in four sets on Sept. 1 against BOLD, but the Lakers bounced back in the rematch on Sept. 29 with a five-set win over the Warriors.

Minnewaska, a Class AA program, has won three straight matches and is 6-6 and 5-4 in the West Central Conference. The Warriors, a Class A program, are now 15-3 and 7-2 in the WCC.

It was back and forth all night with every set being decided by two points, including 17-15 in the fifth. Dreya Barsness (18), Dacia Fleury (14) and Avery Fier (13) all had double-digit kills for Minnewaska.

MINNEWASKA 3, BOLD 2

(23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 17-15)

MINNEWASKA - Avery Fier - 13 kills, 3 assists, 1 ace, 15 digs, 3 blocks; Brooklyn Meyer - 1 assist, 2 aces, 6 digs; Dacia Fleury - 14 kills, 1 ace, 14 digs, 1 block; Dreya Barsness - 18 kills, 2 aces, 21 digs, 3 blocks; Grace Zenk - 3 aces; Haillie Schultz - 1 kill, 1 ace, 10 digs, 1 block; Haley Shea - 2 kills, 49 assists, 2 aces, 12 digs, 3 blocks; Miaya Guggisberg - 7 kills, 2 digs, 5 blocks

Alexandria (7-4) made quick work of St. Cloud Apollo (1-10) on Thursday in a sweep by scores of 25-7, 25-8 and 25-9.

Hadley Thul had 12 kills, and Charlotte Lempka finished with 11.

Addie Rossum and Chloe Scholl led the way from the serving line with 4 and 3 aces, respectively. Senior setter Kiya Issendorf had 34 assists, and the Cardinals as a team finished with 15 block assists.

Alexandria has two home matches next week on Oct. 4 against St. Cloud Tech (4-8) and on Oct. 6 against Sartell-St. Stephen (11-3), both starting at 7 p.m.

(Stats not yet available) 

Osakis (4-12) 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (2-15) 0

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (14-1) 3, Parkers Prairie (6-7) 2