NEW ULM — Cowardice helped tame New Ulm Cathedral’s greyhounds Monday night.
Bending that lack of aggressiveness late against a hungry Martin County West Mavericks team, the Mavericks fought back to win the Tomahawk Valley Conference 18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14, 15 We were able to win with -10. Crossover volleyball game at Cathedral High School.
The Greyhounds looked like they had shaken off the second set loss and regained their energy with a confident block from Olivia Macho to close out the third set, but things looked to be very different in the fourth set. The same problems the Greyhounds had in the fourth reared their ugly head again in the fifth.
“They started playing very cautious and very safe.” Greyhounds head coach Becky Wilfert said of her team. “Instead of playing aggressively like they had in the past to close out the game and get to a point where they could get a shutout, they decided to start playing really tentative and very safe. The more we played, the more mistakes we made. The batters weren’t hitting hard, so they whiffed, and at the net, the servers were putting the ball in the net, and the passers were second-guessing themselves, so we. We couldn’t make good passes. A combination of things made people stop playing hard.”
Shay Wilfert led the Greyhounds with 26 kills and nine digs, and Jaylin Hartness had 12 kills, 24 digs and five aces. For Cathedral, Eva Krueger had 10 kills, 14 digs and four aces, Abby Hillesheim had 24 set assists, Madeline Harla had 16 set assists and Ashlyn Hillesheim had 28 digs.
For MCW, Emily Anderson had 13 kills, 26 digs and two aces, and Maddie Carlson had 12 kills and 14 digs. Cami Crow had four kills and two aces, Emily Shetler had 28 set assists and nine digs, and Courtney Anderson had 21 digs.
“In Game 2, we changed the rotation to try to improve our defense. And in Games 3 and 4, they were just setting up the outside, so as a middle man, that was cheating. did.” Mavericks head coach Kayla Zemes said. “So instead of hitting into the hole like they were hitting into the hole, you give yourself an automatic two-block on the outside, that’s what you have to do. We allowed it to go over, we made sure it was always in the closed block, and we allowed the back row and back end to set up where they needed to be.”
After Macho’s ace serve gave the Greyhounds an early 10-2 lead to start the first set, the Mavericks got on their feet and went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-7 lead and open the first set. I got my first kill of the night during a run from. Anderson. The Mavericks eventually took the lead midway through the set, but it was only a two-point lead as the Greyhounds got back-to-back kills from Shea Wilfahrt to take a 21-17 lead, forcing an MCW timeout.
The Greyhounds ended the set with another kill from Shea Wilfalt shortly after.
In the second set, the Mavericks took control midway through with a 6-0 run that ended with a kill by Carlson to take a 15-8 lead. The Greyhounds chipped away at the lead, eventually tying the score at 21-all late on a net violation, but the Mavericks held on and took the set with a kill from Gianna Chase.
In the third set, the Greyhounds took an early 10-3 lead, forcing an MCW timeout. MCW tied the score at 19-all on an error late, but Cathedral finished the set with a macho kill and block.
The Mavericks took a 3-0 lead in the fourth set before the Greyhounds closed the gap to 7-6 on a kill by Hartness, but the Mavericks went on a 7-0 run to take the lead. It was just as close as it was. 14-6. This loss seemed to be a turning point for the Mavericks. After the Greyhounds cut the deficit to 17-11, the Mavericks extended their lead to 12 points and saw Cathedral’s serve go into the net to end the set and set up a fifth and final game.
Despite Cathedral starting 4-0 in the final set with two goals from Shea Wilfart and an ace from Hartness, the Mavericks went on another 7-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. Shay Wilfert had two more consecutive kills to give the Greyhounds a 9-8 lead, but the Mavericks went on a 7-1 run to win and end the set and match. This was the last time the team led. Kill from Anderson.
As the Greyhounds prepare for the final two weeks of the regular season, coach Wilfahrt continues to work on getting his players in the right mindset to avoid making mistakes and mistakes.
“They start playing without hesitation, and it becomes contagious.” Director Wilfart said. “One girl makes a mistake, and instead of someone standing up and stopping her, she makes two, three, four mistakes in a row, and it just snowballs. You can’t stop and confidently say, ‘No, that’s it, we’re going to end this run here.’
The Greyhounds (8-11) host Nicolet on Tuesday night in a conference crossover matchup.
Jim Bubolz, head football coach at Minnesota Valley Lutheran Church, said they played a very good game Friday night despite losing 34-28.
WINTHROP — Nicollet defeated Gibbon, Fairfax and Winthrop 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 in the Tomahawk Valley Conference crossover…