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Marshall takes down Cardinals in sweep

Photo by Sam Thiel Members of the Marshall volleyball team celebrate after scoring a point during their match against Redwood Valley on Monday. Marshall defeated Redwood Valley 3-0.

MARSHALL — When the Marshall volleyball team faced Redwood Valley last Tuesday, they controlled the pace of the match right from the start with a 25-9 Set 1 win. The Cardinals were determined to change that tune when they visited Marshall on Monday night.

Facing a late deficit in the opening set from a hungry Redwood Valley offense, Marshall was able to rely on its perseverance to earn a come-from-behind victory in Set 1 before taking care of the next two frames for a 3-0 (25-23, 25-11, 25-15) win over the Cardinals.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said they got out to a slow start and credited Redwood Valley for pushing his team right away.

“We just felt like we got out to too much of a slow start. You’ve got to give Redwood Valley a lot of credit; they came in here and were ready to go,” Westby said. “They completely flipped the script from a week ago in Set 1, we won 25-9 in Set 1, so they completely flipped it and that’s credit to them and their coaches. I thought our kids were able to right the ship somewhat in Sets 2 and 3, but still it never really felt like we got in any kind of a groove. It felt like everything was hard work and again, that’s credit to Redwood Valley.”

The opening set had the makings of a tight battle early on, as the score was tied at three apiece before Marshall went on a 5-2 run to take an 8-5 lead. Redwood Valley would continue to hang around, though, cutting the deficit to just one at 13-12 before taking a one-point advantage of its own at 18-17. The Cardinals then pushed their lead three at 21-18, but Marshall continued to fight, getting a pair of kills from Jordyn Hilgemann before an ace helped tie things up at 21-21. The two sides would trade points over the next few possessions, but Marshall was able to escape with the narrow 25-23 Set 1 victory.

Westby said the biggest adjustment between the first and second set was limiting the off-speed opportunities the Cardinals were successful on in the opening frame.

“They just did everything better than we did in Set 1. They served better, they passed better, they defended better,” Westby said. “We just felt there was too much off-speed where they were tipping some balls on us that were hitting the floor and that’s something that we feel like we take a lot of pride in and we shouldn’t let happen and there was just too much of that in Set 1.”

The second set saw Marshall hold a slim 6-4 lead before using a 9-4 run to extend its advantage to 15-8. Marshall would only allow three more Cardinal points the remainder of the frame on its way to a 25-11 Set 2 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3 was similar to its previous counterpart, as Marshall took an early 9-5 lead before pushing it to 17-9. An ace would give Marshall a 25-15 third-set win to earn the sweep.

Hilgemann led Marshall with 16 kills while Emily Meier added 10 and Taylor Ariasola had five. Hilgemann also had 20 digs while Caitlyn Christenson added 17 and Maysa Gillingham had 15. Gillingham also had 29 set assists.

Up next

Marshall (9-0) will face Worthington on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

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