The Alexandria volleyball team’s last nine wins have all come by sweeps after the Cardinals (11-1) took care of St. Cloud Apollo in three sets on Thursday.

Senior Maggie Anderson had a team-best 10 kills against the Eagles. Tessa McGrane dug up a team-high 15 balls, and Kiya Issendorf and Chloe Scholl shared the setting duties with 14 and 11 assists, respectively.

• RELATED CONTENT: Alexandria volleyball continues to play with a focused approach regardless of the opponent in front of the Cardinals.

The Cardinals will now host their home invite starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
ALEXANDRIA 3, ST. CLOUD APOLLO 0

ALEXANDRIA - Tessa McGrane - 2 assists, 15 digs; Erika Wentworth - 1 ace, 2 digs; Hailie Kent - 8 digs; Kiya Issendorf - 3 kills, 14 assists, 10 digs; Chloe Scholl - 11 assists, 1 dig; Lilly Thul - 6 kills, 1 block, 1 dig; Cora Larson - 4 digs; Hadley Thul - 4 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 3 digs; Addie Boesl - 2 aces, 2 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 8 digs; Maggie Anderson - 10 kills, 4 digs; Maddi Buysse - 2 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs; Charlotte Lempka - 6 kills, 1 dig

Knights fall in four to Warriors

West Central Area (14-3-1) has played Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (11-6) three times now this season, and the Warriors have taken the two matches outside of weekend tournament play after beating the Knights in four sets on Thursday.

It was a packed gym in Barrett to see the two Pheasant Conference teams go at it, and the Warriors took sets two, three and four by scores of 25-21, 28-26 and 25-22 after WCA won set one, 25-19.

“(In sets two and three,) we really struggled with serve receive and defense on the right side,” WCA head coach Melissa Foslien said. “We lost a lot of points as their middle kept tipping inside the block on the right side and we just couldn’t pick it up. Our serve receive was also very inconsistent, which then trickled down to us not getting a good first attack on the ball and playing a ton more defense. Despite the poor performance, the scores were close and made for an exciting night of play.”

Elizabeth Rustan had a team-best 19 kills for WCA, while Mya Foslien added 14. Macy Grosz had 37 assists and 25 digs, while Kaitlyn Hansen had a team-best 28 digs.

Wheaton is now 4-2 in conference play, while WCA is 3-2 overall with those two losses coming to the Warriors.

“This was a big loss in the conference,” coach Foslien said. “From here we just need to keep improving our game, keep our focus for the season, and tomorrow is another day.”

WHN 3, WCA 1

WCA - Elizabeth Rustan - 16-19, 2 aces, 12 digs, 19 kills, 2 blocks; Whitney Westrom - 26-26 serving, 4 aces, 3 kills, 1 block; Macy Grosz - 22/23 serving, 3 aces, 37 assists, 25 digs; Mya Foslien - 7-8 serving, 18 digs, 14 kills; Halle Foslien - 7-8 serving, 5 kills, 2 blocks; Addison Staples - 10-12 serving, 4 assists, 5 kills; Kaitlyn Hansen - 28 digs; Madelyn Westrom - 7 digs

Osakis sweeps LPGE

Osakis went on the road to get another Prairie Conference win in a sweep of Long Prairie-Grey Eagle on Thursday.

It’s the second sweep of the Thunder this season as Osakis (7-10) is now 4-2 in conference play. Alexis Johanson had a team-high nine kills Thursday, while Josee Hartshorn dished out 21 assists and added 13 digs, and Greta Faber had a team-high 36 digs.

OSAKIS 3, LPGE 0

OSAKIS - Alexis Johanson - 4 aces, 9 kills, 1 block, 9 digs; Greta Faber - 2 kills, 1 assist, 36 digs; Hayleigh Niehoff - 1 ace, 6 kills, 3 digs; Josee Hartshorn - 1 kill, 21 assists, 13 digs; Kali Schoeck - 2 kills, 1 block, 12 digs; Kiley Kranz - 4 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 4 digs; Lexi Froemming - 1 kill, 1 block, 1 dig; Mackenzie Holmquist - 1 ace, 1 assist, 6 digs; Madison Lipke - 3 kills, 2 blocks, 1 dig

Arrows get first win

Ashby got its first win of the season on Thursday as the Arrows (1-15) beat Rothsay (1-15) in four sets in a Little Eight Conference match.

“A much-needed and deserved victory,” Ashby head coach Hayley Stevens said. “Every single athlete dug deep and things came together. Our team serving was 91.4% and we had strong, consistent serving from multiple players. We held the momentum, and in the games we took, that momentum didn't shift much.”

The Arrows won 25-23 and 25-15 in the first two sets before the Tigers won 25-21 in the third. Ashby bounced right back and took the fourth 25-18 to secure the win.

Ryleigh Brendmoen had a team-high 10 kills and 23 digs, and Catherine Koefod put up 14 assists.

“It's not always easy to jump back after losing a point here and there, but tonight we did that better than ever this season,” Stevens said. “We are fitting the pieces to the puzzle and the girls are clicking and starting to trust each other more.”

ASHBY 3, ROTHSAY 1

ASHBY - Kyra Aamot - 15-18 serving, 14 digs; Catherine Koefod - 9-10 serving, 3 kills, 14 assists, 5 digs; Celi Nelson - 16/16 serving, 4 kills, 9 digs; Kaylee Schlundt - 15/16 serving, 3 assists, 4 digs; Livy Johnson - 12/13 serving, 7 kills, 1 block; Ryleigh Brendmoen - 18/20 serving, 10 kills, 23 digs; BrookeLinn Finkelson - 4 kills, 1 block; Lucy Ohren - 13 digs