LUVERNE -- After a nine-day layoff, Southwest Christian needed some time to get back in the swing of things.
Facing a tough and scrappy Westbrook-Walnut Grove team in the second round of the Section 3A volleyball tournament Friday night, SWC defeated the Chargers in three hard-fought games.
"We started out kind of rough, but we haven't played in nine days," SWC head coach Delaine Vander Woude said. "That's always tough to get going again. I was happy with games two and three. We communicated well, and we have to play tough at the net, and we did that in Game 3."
After winning the first two games by identical 25-20 scores, the Eagles defeated the Chargers 25-9 in the final game.
Second-seeded SWC will now face third-seeded Murray County Central Tuesday night in Luverne.
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"I thought the first two sets we played really well right along with them," W-WG head coach Natalie Ross said. "We had one little problem with serve receptions that they caught up and excelled there. We hit into their humongous block a couple of times."
Despite playing without Jada Vander Veen, the SWC block controlled the net all night.
Brianna Spronk had 15 blocks on the night, including four ace blocks.
However, Kara Van Dyke had three blocks, while Angie Vermeer (nine kills), Jenni Vander Veen (eight kills) and Spronk (six kills) led the Eagle attack.
"We generally have pretty even blocking and hitting," Vander Woude said. "We don't rely on one player, which is really nice."
For the Chargers (16-14-2), Audra Schmidt had six kills and two blocks, while Taylor Elzenga had seven kills, 15 digs and was 10-for-10 serving.
Even though the Eagles won the first game by five points, it was the Chargers who came out of the gate firing.
After a kill by Vermeer, SWC had an 8-5 lead -- forcing a W-WG timeout.
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From there, the Chargers mounted a comeback. Behind a tip from Kylie Erickson, the lead was cut to one point, and on the next play, the score was tied at 10-all.
With the score tied at 15-all, Mara Vander Maten provided the spark for the Eagles.
Vander Maten had three straight aces to give SWC an 18-15 lead -- a lead it never gave up.
Van Dyke scored the final points on an ace tip and a block as SWC won the first set, 25-20.
Just like the first game, the Eagles needed a spark in the second game.
The Chargers opened up a 10-4 lead early, but SWC started to mount a comeback.
Spronk and Vermeer each had a kill to give SWC an 11-10 lead, and a pair of hits from Spronk capped a 9-0 run as the Eagles had a 13-10 advantage.
An attack error by the Eagles pulled the score to within one point, 20-19, but a kill and a pair of blocks from Spronk put the finishing touches on a 25-20 victory in Game 2.
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"The second set we missed three serves, and that kind of killed us because we only lost by five," Ross said. "But we played along with them aggressively and we dug well and played defense pretty well."
The Eagles opened up an 18-5 lead early in the third set and appeared to be cruising to a victory.
"It seemed to me that we were playing kind of tight and hesitant and thinking, 'Oh, don't mess up,'" Ross said. "We had some hitting errors and some serve-receive errors and we got quiet and reserved.
"I think they lost a lot of confidence going 0-2 instead of splitting them."
W-WG battled back late, but SWC was too much in a 25-9 victory.
"We got our passing better and when we get our passes on the net, we can pound," Vander Woude said of the third game. "We're good at the net because we have size and we want to play on the net. We don't like to scramble, we like to end a rally with a kill."
SWC, which finished undefeated in the Red Rock Conference this season, defeated MCC 3-1 Oct. 9 in Edgerton.
