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OKABENA -- Trista Rhubee likes her volleyball team. Her volleyball players like volleyball -- a lot. Their talent shows on the court.
“Things are going really good,” Coach Rhubee testified of her squad Thursday night after a Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda sweep over Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey 25-21, 25-10, 25-13. “It’s nice to have the full team back. We had a couple of ankle injuries early in the season, and the girls still stayed strong. The girls have shown really good leadership and positive attitudes.”
Playing in an area of Minnesota that’s imbedded with many outstanding high school volleyball teams, the Coyotes have already achieved regular season victories against highly-regarded local rivals Jackson County Central and Windom Area, and they put together a solid effort Sept. 23 and 24 in a Burnsville tournament that included Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, the No. 1-ranked Class A team in the state.
HL-O/F resides in Section 3A. Besides R-T-R, the section includes No. 3-ranked Minneota and No. 8-ranked MACCRAY. Last year the Coyotes played deep into the section tournament, and Rhubee said that when the 2022 season started the girls were already talking about making another deep run.
In Thursday’s match with MLA/C, the Coyotes’ Sam Untiedt accounted for nine kills and 17 set assists. Madi Schumacher had seven kills. Lili Nielsen was 15-for-16 serving with four aces. Marenna Bang was 16-for-16 from the service line with one ace, and she also had 18 set assists. Emma Rasche had 14 digs.
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Thursday’s victory moved HL-O/F to 16-8 on the season.
Rhubee said the Coyotes communicate well together on the floor and have fun. Sometimes when mistakes are made, the energy wanes for a moment, but before long the team goes right back at it.
“The girls have to go for every ball, hit the floor for the ball. It only comes from a high-intensity effort,” said Rhubee.
If there’s a special quality that sets HL-O/F apart from average teams, it may be their wealth of hitters. “We spread out our offense. We have very talented, aggressive hitters all over. … The setters spread out the offense. We mix it up and it keeps the other side of the net on their toes. They don’t know where the attack is coming from,” said Rhubee, who also praised the team’s “scrappy” defense.
HL-O/F’s next game is Tuesday against Adrian/Ellsworth in Fulda.
