SECTION 3A VOLLEYBALL: Early offense carries No. 1N Minneota over No. 4N Wabasso
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MARSHALL - Warming up the Section 3A volleyball tournament action at Southwest Minnesota State University’s R/A Facility Tuesday night were the Wabasso Rabbits and the Minneota Vikings. Wabasso fell to Minneota in three sets, with each set having final scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-13.
The first set saw each team tied up early on with a 3-3 score. Maddy Guetter pinned down the first point with one of her strong signature hits. Minneota adjusted well throughout the set to unexpected ball placement, and this gave them a leg up with a lead of 13-7. Lizzy Gillingham met the serving line and extended that lead for the Vikings with an ace, but Wabasso earned points from their well-placed blocks. When the Vikings earned the ball back from their defense at the net, Lydia Sussner sent the ball sailing to Rabbit defenders who were unable to get under it. Wabasso trailed for a while, but came back when Guetter had a streak of kills. Despite both teams playing with a tremendous amount of heart and energy, Minneota came out the winners of the starting set when Wabasso placed a hit out of bounds.
Minneota head volleyball coach Hayley Fruin was proud of her team and their powerful game effort on not only defense, but on offense as well. “We did a great job on offense, defense, serving, and getting them out of rotation. Our hitters like Jenny Krog really stepped up; Lizzy Gillingham, Natalee Rolbiecki, I mean everyone really had a great night tonight,” she said. “Neither team has played each other, so the first set it took us a bit. That third set was so important to come out strong and put them away early, which the girls did.”
This time it was Sussner’s well known and powerful arm that nailed down the first kill of the second set. Wabasso struggled at the line with a serve that didn’t meet its mark. The score resembled that of the first set, and both teams again had close scores of 6-5 with Minneota leading. The Vikings jumped ahead of the Rabbits 19-12 when Wabasso saw another serving error, however Guetter found her way through a Minneota block and earned another point for Wabasso. Minneota’s Natalee Rolbiecki answered back by placing a kill right in the middle of the opposing side, and Sussner tipped the ball to earn the final point which closed the second set.
Wabasso wasn’t afraid to go for every ball and played with intensity as well as strength, but Minneota’s ball placement and calculated hits were too much; the Rabbits weren’t fast enough to keep up with the ongoing force that is the Vikings. This was especially true during the final set of the game when Krog found Wabasso’s weak spot and put down a kill which was quickly followed by another two kills in the same location. Dissimilar to the previous two, the third set had Minneota running away with a 8-1 lead early on. Krog was on fire with yet another kill which contributed to the rapid accumulation of points for the Vikings who effortlessly reached a 21-5 point total.
Wabasso’s resilience shined through with Amanda Hoffman earning a kill to get the ball back to the Rabbits. Hoffman’s kill was followed by four more points, two of which derived from Vikings double hits. Gina Goblirsch earned an ace for Wabasso followed by two more kills from Guetter. However, Wabasso’s comeback was short-lived and came too late - Krog put an end to the fast-paced game with a calculated kill.
Wabasso head volleyball coach Barb Johnson commended how well her girls have been playing together throughout the season, but noted that her team’s game fell flat this playoff match. “We have a great bunch of girls who have done a great job this season in general,” she said. “As a team, they played tough defense, got hard hits and kills when needed. It’s been a fun season to be with these girls. It’s just disappointing that it ended like this.”
Starting off the stats for Minneota at the serving line is Morgan Hennen who accomplished 19 perfect serves. Hennen is followed by Morgan Kockelman with 15 perfect serves. Emily Pohlen showed up in a big way for the Vikings with 10 perfect serves as well. For assists, Kockelman saw 32. Sussner was at the forefront of Minneota’s offense with 12 kills. Backing up Sussner’s effort was Krog with six kills and Rolbiecki with six as well. Defensively, Abby Hennen was the glue that held the Viking’s back row together- Hennen achieved 22 digs. Gillingham followed with nine digs and Kockelman showed up with nine also. Sydney Larson and Sussner each earned two blocks.
Wabasso’s serving stats were led by Jenna Frank who had nine perfect serves, Guetter with eight perfect serves, Megan Rothmeier with seven perfect serves, and Goblirsch with two aces. Frank also showed up with 35 total assists. Offensively, Guetter delivered an impressive 18 kills, which were backed up by Goblirsch who earned 11 and Hoffman who contributed five. Guetter also led defensively with 17 digs which were closely followed by Rothmeier who accomplished 16. Frank also contributed with 10 digs. Hoffman earned three blocks while Ally Welch saw two.
On Thursday at 6:00 p.m., Minneota will play at SMSU again, this time matching up with Canby who won over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. Fruin says that Canby will be a competitive opponent. “Canby has a great setter and is a scrappy team- sometimes, it can be frustrating when a hit is sent over and you think it’s going to be a kill but it comes back,” she said. “Canby is a great competitive team, and it will be a great matchup.”