Staff photo by Travis RosenauNew Ulm players celebrate a kill from Brooklyn Lewis (middle, 2) during a Big South Conference volleyball match with Fairmont on Tuesday at New Ulm High School.
NEW ULM — After the Fairmont Cardinals evened up the score in Tuesday’s Big South Conference volleyball match, New Ulm Eagles assistant head coach Kate Rabe wanted to see cleaner passing and better timing on blocks.
The Eagles answered those requests in many ways, but none bigger than Lauren Schmiesing’s match-ending block that gave the Eagles a 25-10, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18 win at New Ulm High School.
“I think Set 2 was hard because you could tell our passing wasn’t quite on,” Rabe, who was filling in for head coach Christine Skoglund, said. “Fairmont started hitting, so obviously, if we’re not blocking well, then our back row doesn’t have a chance. So we had to adjust to the hitters and then time our blocks a little bit better.”
The Cardinals had a rough first set that saw the Eagles take an early 14-5 lead after a kill by Brooklyn Lewis. The Eagles then closed the set on a 4-0 run, the final 2 points coming on back-to-back attack errors by the Cardinals.
Despite that first set, the Cardinals responded and turned in a strong second set and kept things interesting the rest of the match.
“These girls have a very good way of identifying of when they get themselves down, letting it go and starting it fresh and going after the next set,” Fairmont head coach Elizabeth Lowry said. “They’re a fairly younger team with new experience on the varsity level, but they’re learning to battle that every time and getting that mental block and pushing through it. And they’re doing a good job battling through that.”
That Fairmont comeback in the second set was aided by a hot start and 7-3 lead after a kill by Brylee Miller. The Eagles tied it up at 11-11 with a kill from Lauren Schmiesing and took the lead on a Fairmont error, but the Cardinals quickly took the lead back after a service error and an ace serve off the hand of Leslie Zarling.
After a block by Makayla Lowry gave Fairmont a 20-14 lead, the Eagles took their first timeout of the night. New Ulm got it within 2, 21-19, after an ace by Lewis, but the Cardinals closed the set on a 4-1 run to tie the match at 1-all.
The Eagles jumped out to a speedy 6-2 lead in the third set after a kill from Lewis and a block from Calli Koop, but the Cardinals answered with a 5-0 run that gave them a 7-6 lead. That run started on a kill from Makayla Lowry and was followed up with back-to-back kills from Ellie Ortega, an attack error and a kill by Miller.
The teams traded points before Fairmont went on a 6-0 run to prompt another New Ulm timeout.
A late kill by Morgan Hulke kicked off a 5-0 New Ulm run that was finished with an ace by Koop that put the Eagles in front 21-20 and forced a Fairmont timeout. The score was tied up three times after that before New Ulm got the final 2 points of the set to go up 2-1 in the match.
After a block by Miller had it 8-8 in Set 4, New Ulm got a 4-0 run to lead 12-8. The Eagles kept enough distance and kept that 4-point lead midway through the set, getting a kill from Hulke to go up 18-14.
That Hulke kill turned into a 4-0 Eagles run that put them ahead 20-14 and gave them the momentum.
After a kill by New Ulm’s Makena Meier, Schmiesing’s block that gave the Eagles the win.
Rabe said the Eagles’ six seniors have been good leaders this season, but there are still several younger players that have been needed to step up also this year with limited varsity experience.
“It’s always interesting to go from B-squad to varsity for those younger players,” Rabe said. “It’s the [Eagles] squadron and maybe it’s a cute boy here and there, you have to focus, so finding that focus is really important. So having the senior leaders that we do is huge. Even some of those seniors don’t have a ton of experience because of the senior class last year, so they’re really doing a good job of keeping everybody focused and also pumped up at the same time. It gets a little hectic sometimes and then we’ve got to reel them in and then they find their focus again [laughs]. So it’s kind of fun to see that ebb and flow of energy versus focus.”
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