Photo by Jake Przytarski YME’s Alli Steffen tips the ball over the net during their Section 3A tournament match against Wabasso on Monday. The Sting defeated the Rabbits 3-0.

GRANITE FALLS – With a spot in the round of 16 up for grabs, No. 7 seed Yellow Medicine East took care of business on its home floor on Monday by defeating No. 10 seed Wabasso in a straight sets sweep.

Sting coach Alyssa Johnson came away especially pleased by her team’s performance at the service line after making it a point of emphasis to serve aggressively.

“We really focused on serving consistently and aggressively. We knew that it would definitely help us out in the win and we were able to do that and be pretty consistent,” said Johnson. “We only missed a few serves throughout the match so I was happy with that.”

YME showed its strength at the service line early on in the opening set when Jady Sakry registered her first of a game-high four aces to even the score up at five apiece following a back and forth start. Wabasso went on to take the lead at 7-6, but the Sting stormed back with consecutive points to make it 8-7 before going on a critical 8-1 run to take a 16-8 lead. YME would use the run to eventually win the set 25-16.

Wabasso coach Barbara Johnson said the team’s youth showed at times in not being able to regroup after a shift in momentum.

“I thought we played really well at times and then I thought we let them get some runs that didn’t allow us to stay in the game,” she said. “I think our youth really showed just not being able to compose themselves in a playoff atmosphere.”

Wabasso managed to shake off the disappointing end to the first set and seized control of set two thanks to an emphatic kill by Cora Eichten to open the scoring followed by an ace by Kelsey Fischer. The Rabbits remained locked-in and took their biggest lead of the match at 13-8 to force a YME timeout.

During the break, Johnson stressed the need for her team to get back to playing their game.

“At that point I told them that we just need to get back to focusing on our fundamentals,” YME’s Johnson said. “It was just getting sloppy on our side on serve-receive and on defense.”

Taking their coach’s advice to heart, the Sting put together an 8-3 run to tie the score at 16 before taking their first lead of the set at 18-17. The Rabbits responded with a run of their own to reach set point with the score 24-22, but a strong effort by kills leader Alli Steffen provided the lift YME needed to comeback and win the set 27-25.

Hoping to extend the match to a fourth set, the Rabbits once again got off to a quick start and held an 8-4 advantage in the early goings of set three. Using a 10-5 run, the Sting bounced back to take the lead at 14-13 and all but put Wabasso away down the stretch with a 6-0 run that put them within striking distance of a match win with the score 20-13. In spite of a late push by the Rabbits, the Sting took the third and final set 25-16.

With the loss, Wabasso ends its season with a final record of 8-20. Though Rabbits coach Johnson would have liked to have won more games, she came away pleased that the young team got some valuable playing experience that they can take into next season.

“Obviously we would have liked to have won more games as anybody does, but I think as a whole those young girls got a lot of playing time and experience,” said Johnson. “They got to go to some good tournaments and played some good games and they had some good leadership from our seniors as well so I hope that they can really take this into next year. Next year we’ll still have a young team, but hopefully we don’t play as young as we will be.”

Next up for the Sting will be a round of 16 matchup against No. 2 seed Lakeview on the road on Friday at 7 p.m. YME’s Johnson said the focus for their upcoming match is to play more consistently in order to be at their best against a tough Lakers squad.

“We definitely need to be more consistent in our game. Wabasso was scrappy and defensively we weren’t really able to answer that all the time so we need to clean up what we’re doing on our side,” said Johnson. “Lakeview is a tough team so we have to be at the top of our game going into Friday night.”

YME 3, Wabasso 0

YME 25 27 25

Wabasso 16 25 16

KILLS: YME (Steffen 13, Bones 5); Wabasso (Eichten 16).

DIGS: YME (Steffen 19, Flores 13); Wabasso (Huhnerkoch 11, Brand 10).

SERVING (Aces): YME (Sakry 4, Steffen 2, Jaenisch 2, Flores 1); Wabasso (Fischer 1).

SET ASSISTS: YME (Hinz 21); Wabasso (Carlson 14, Frank 11).

BLOCKS: YME (Flores 3, Mortenson 2, Steffen 1); Wabasso (Fenger 1, Eichten 1).