PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Trojan VB falls to Tigers

MARSHALL — Fresh off a three-game sweep over Luverne in their previous action last week, the Worthington Trojans traveled to take on the Marshall Tigers in a key Southwest Conference high school volleyball match Thursday night.

Marshall, last year’s Class AA state champion and this year’s current top-ranked squad, claimed a three-game sweep over Worthington on scores of 25-10, 25-7 and 25-15 to improve to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

“Marshall is a solid all-around team,” Worthington head coach Melissa Schutz said. “We did a nice job of serve receiving and blocking tonight, but Marshall played a little bit better than we did overall.”

Becca Linder led Worthington with seven kills and four blocks, while Tara Svalland had five kills and four blocks. Anna Koepsell collected 14 digs to pace the Trojans defensively.

“I thought Becca and Anna both played well,” Schutz said. “Becca had a nice match in the front row hitting and blocking, while Anna was solid in the back row in terms of serve receiving and coming up with digs.”

Paige Gravenhof filled the stat sheets with 10 set assists, nine digs and an 8-for-8 serving line. KC Riley (6-for-6 serving) and Brooke Henning (5-for-5 serving, four blocks) rounded out the leaderboard for Worthington.

The Trojans, who are now 8-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference, play at a tournament in St. James Saturday.

SWC 3, SWU 1

EDGERTON — Amber Pater’s all-around performance of 11 kills, eight digs, three blocks and three ace serves (15-for-15 overall) helped spark the Southwest Christian Eagles to a key four-set victory over the Southwestern United Wildcats in a Red Rock Conference high school volleyball match Thursday night.

Both teams entered the match undefeated in league action, and SWC (10-5, 5-0) is now a game up on SWU (9-5, 4-1) after winning on scores of 23-25, 25-9, 25-15 and 26-24.

Shelby Klarenbeek (11 digs), Hannah Van Dyke (19 set assists, eight digs), Morgan Van Hulzen (11-for-13 serving, five aces) and Tianna Top (six kills, three ace blocks) were the other statistical stand-outs for the Eagles.

Courtney Place paced SWU with 22 kills and 22 digs. Mandy Henkels also had 22 digs and distributed 35 set assists — surpassing 1,000 career set assists early in the first game.

Alyssa Hendrickson (seven kills, 11 blocks) and Rachel Mathias (16-for-17 serving, two aces) were among the other Wildcats who contributed.

SWC hosts Hills-Beaver Creek Tuesday, while SWU is at Adrian Tuesday.

RRC 3, Ellsworth 0

ELLSWORTH — Chloe Arfsten and Fern Engen both pounded 11 kills Thursday night, sparking the Red Rock Central Falcons to a three-game sweep (25-11, 25-21 and 25-12) over the Ellsworth Panthers in a Red Rock Conference high school volleyball match.

Tegan Derickson and Mikaela Smith dished out 14 and 13 set assists, respectively, for the Falcons. Smith also had a big night from the service line —going a perfect 27-for-27 with eight aces — while Derickson was 10-for-10 serving.

Arfsten added seven digs, Brooke Rasmussen charted a team-best 13 digs, and Katie Larsen smashed seven kills for RRC, which improves to 6-8 overall and 4-2 in the conference.

Bridget Kramer had seven assists and four digs to lead Ellsworth, while Paige Meester fired six ace serves and came up with two blocks.

Hannah Mulder (three blocks, two ace serves and two kills), Kadie Werner (three kills), Alexa Huisman (three kills), Danielle DeBeer (four digs, two kills) and Emily Chapa (four digs) were among the other statistical leaders for the Panthers.

RRC hosts Fulda Tuesday, while Ellsworth (3-6, 2-4) plays in the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton tournament Saturday.

W-WG 3, Adrian 0

ADRIAN — A well-balanced performance yielded another victory for the Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers Thursday night, this one in three sets (25-19, 25-10 and 25-20) over the Adrian Dragons in a Red Rock Conference high school volleyball match.

Abby Herding was 18-for-18 serving with three aces and also distributed 25 set assists to spark the Chargers. Madison Takle (17-for-17, two aces) and Dayna Comnick (16-for-16, four aces) were also perfect from the service line.

Comnick smacked a team-best 13 kills, while Kelsi Wahl and Paige Erickson finished with seven and six kills, respectively. Takle, Erickson and Hailey Osland each tallied eight digs for W-WG.

Rachel Kontz was 14-for-15 serving with four aces to go along with 13 set assists and nine digs for Adrian. Courtney Vaske had 15 digs, seven kills and two blocks.

Corie Reckamp (eight digs, five kills), Carly Wolf (nine digs) and Kayla Lonneman (four kills, one block) were the other top performers for the Dragons.

The Chargers (15-3, 4-1) host Edgerton Tuesday. Adrian (6-9, 2-5) hosts Southwestern United Tuesday.

MLA 3, H-BC 0

HILLS — Janessa Peters spiked 14 kills to the floor and went 12-for-14 serving with six aces Thursday night, as the Mountain Lake Area Wolverines swept the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots in a Red Rock Conference high school volleyball match.

Game scores were 25-18, 25-19 and 25-19 in favor of MLA, which improves to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the conference.

Rachel Dukes had 30 set assists and three blocks for the Wolverines, while Mikayla Falk finished with 20 digs. Jordan Syverson (eight kills), Carmen Syverson (four blocks) and Paige Brown (14-for-14 serving) also chipped in for MLA.

Meghan Leuthold cracked five kills to lead H-BC (1-4, 2-8), while both Haley Van Wyhe and Kelli Esselink had two kills.

Paige Leuthold went 9-for-10 serving and passed out nine set assists for the Patriots, and Hattie Van Wyhe went 10-for-11 serving and collected 12 digs.

MLA hosts St. James Area Monday, while H-BC hosts Edgerton Monday.

MCC 3, Edgerton 0

SLAYTON — Murray County Central claimed a three-set victory over Edgerton Thursday night, as the Rebels defeated the Flying Dutchmen by scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-14 in a Red Rock Conference high school volleyball match.

Kristi Bose posted nine kills and seven digs to lead MCC (5-4, 5-1), while Lindsey Barritt smacked six kills. Dana VanderWal and Hannah Schmidt both had eight digs for the Rebels.

Rounding out the leaders for MCC were Paris Thomas (10 set assists) and Macy Halbur (seven digs).

Jessica Menning went 10-for-12 serving with two aces and also had 11 set assists for Edgerton. Ciara Everett and Sarah Post each smacked eight kills.

Amanda Schaap dished out 12 set assists, Lindsey VanDyke came up with six digs, and Tara DeKam had a pair of blocks for the Flying Dutchmen (0-12, 0-7).

PA 3, Luverne 0

LUVERNE — Pipestone Area earned a three-game sweep over the Luverne Cardinals in a Southwest Conference high school volleyball match Thursday night.

PA, which is now 9-10 overall and 3-0 in the league, won on game scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-23.

Taylor Stratton and Paige Baker each smacked five kills to lead Luverne, while Ashley Olson distributed 12 set assists. Stratton was also credited with eight blocks, and Amanda Barnhart collected seven total blocks.

Baker and Ellen Dahl came up with 10 digs apiece, while Erica DeBoer (9-for-10, one ace) and Ashlinn Curtis (9-for-12, one ace) were the Cardinals’ top servers.

PA hosts Marshall next Thursday. Luverne (2-10, 0-4) plays Tuesday at West Central, S.D.

T-M-B 3, R-T-R 1

TYLER — Cassandra Hook spread out 46 set assists Thursday night, helping the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers earn a four-set victory (25-14, 25-6, 21-25 and 25-21) over the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights in a Camden Conference high school volleyball match.

Kassidy Przymus (16), Sammie Gervais (14) and Jenna Stoneberg (11) combined to knock down 41 kills for T-M-B. Anna Peterson collected 17 digs, while Przymus and Kelli Soupir both had 11 digs for the Panthers.

Gervais (25-for-25, one ace), Soupir (13-for-13, one ace), Przymus (11-for-11, one ace) and Stoneberg (11-for-12, two aces) were the stand-out servers for T-M-B.

The Panthers (9-8, 6-1) host Minneota Tuesday.

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