Staff photo by Ali Selby New Ulm High School’s Morgan Hulk (3) goes for a spike during a non-conference volleyball match against Mankato East on Thursday at New Ulm High School.
NEW ULM — New Ulm battled Mankato East in a non-conference volleyball match Thursday, falling to the Cougars 19-25, 25-19, 25-9, 26-24 in four sets.
Brooklyn Lewis had six kills, 10 digs, four aces and two blocks for the Eagles, while Lauren Schmiesing had four kills and one block. Kenzie Enter added 10 digs, nine set assists, one ace and one block.
“Three sets, I was really proud of our team.” “We played great in the first set, with Brooklyn Lewis serving hard and winning consecutive points from there to take the win,” New Ulm head coach Christine Skogland said. “The second set was close, but we made a couple of mental mistakes in that match.”
“The fourth set was a set I was really proud of, even though we lost by two points. We were down 16-22 but we persevered and came back. The third set was definitely a down set for us. We were down mentally and all our skill levels dropped, especially our serving and receiving.”
New Ulm started the first set strong, with its defense, especially its front line, making it tough for Mankato East.
The Cougars led 4-0 in the first set, but New Ulm fought back to close the gap to 8-6. A quick three-point run by Mankato East forced a timeout for New Ulm and the Eagles continued to fight back. New Ulm had closed the gap to 18-17 when Mankato East took a timeout on a Morgan Hulk kill. The Eagles took the lead for the first time two points later on a block by Hulk, and an ace by Lewis forced another timeout for the Cougars and put New Ulm up 22-18. The Eagles finished the set with a block by Kali Coupe to win the set, 25-19.
The second set also began with the Cougars leading, as Mankato East began to adjust to New Ulm’s front-line defense and jumped out to an early 6-3 lead.
“Our blocking was really good, so they were able to set their outside hitters high and break through our block a lot of times.” Skogland said. “So we started to get frustrated. After that, we just went back and worked on the fundamentals. And our blocking just got better and better.”
Mankato East continued to extend its lead behind the arm strength of Carly Wendinger, who had eight kills in the set and 23 for the match. By the time New Ulm took its second timeout, Mankato East was leading 18-13. New Ulm quickly went on a 3-0 run and got within two points, but the Cougars held on and ended the set with a kill from Wendinger.
The Cougars carried that momentum into the third set, jumping out to an early 8-0 lead. Wendinger added five more points and Mankato East outshot New Ulm, 25-9.
New Ulm regained focus in the fourth set, scoring its first points of the night on a kill from Makenna Meyer. The Eagles turned this into a 7-4 lead on two kills from Schmiesing and one from Isabel Lontine. Both teams battled for a few points before Mankato East took a timeout with New Ulm leading 12-7. Mankato East began to catch up in the game, going on a 13-2 run to tie the set at 14 midway through the set before the Cougars eventually took a 22-16 lead.
A kill from Lewis sparked a 6-1 run for the Eagles that cut the lead to 23-22, forcing a Mankato East timeout, but a kill from Wendinger gave the Cougars a 26-24 win to take the set and the match.
New Ulm (1-9) will face Jackson County Central in the tournament on Saturday.
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