The Ada-Borup-West Cougars’ Malayna Syverson and Morgan Engel (both of committed to play volleyball at NDSU next year) were too much as they beat the Sacred Heart Eagle Volleyball team 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 20-25, 25-19) in the Section 8A Volleyball championship at the University of Minnesota Crookston’s Lysaker Gymnasium.
23FIRST SET
The teams were tied at 1 and 2 and Sacred Heart went on a 9-2 run behind five Lexi Lawrence kills and two Lydia Riskey kills. ABW’s 6’4 senior (NDSU commit) Malayna Syverson had a kill to stop the run for a moment as Sacred Heart responded with another Lawrence kill followed by two Cougar attack errors, forcing ABW to call a time out trailing 14-5. The teams played even for a while and Sacred Heart led 18-11, seemingly in control of the match. It was this point in the set that the Cougars took over by going on a 10-0 run led by three kills from Syverson, five Sacred Heart errors, a Morgan Engel block, and an ace to take 21-18 lead. Sacred Heart battled back to tie the set at 23-23 after a Finley Horken block, a Lydia Riskey kill, and a Kayla Benson ace. Sacred Heart served out of bounds and the Eagles had an attack go into the net and ABW won the first set 25-23.
SECOND SET
ABW started the second set strong with the first eight points behind three points from Audrina Eggen, two kills from Syverson and three Sacred Heart errors for an 8-0 lead. Sacred Heart settled down and answered with six points of their own with two kills apiece from Lawrence, Lydia Riskey, and a kill and a block from Stella Riskey to get within an 8-6 deficit. The teams exchanged points before ABW led 14-10 when they scored three of the next four points for a 17-11 lead. Lydia Riskey had a kill to get Sacred Heart within a 17-12 lead only to have ABW bounced back with a 8-5 run and finished with a Morgan Engel kill for a 25-16 victory and a 2-0.
THIRD SET
Sacred Heart started the third set strong and took a 6-1 lead behind two Lawrence kills, a Stella Riskey kill and three ABW attack errors. The Cougars answered with a 10-5 run to tie the set at 11-11 behind four Engel kills. Sacred Heart scored the next couple of points and led 17-15 when Bryn Stevens had a big kill followed by Lydia Riskey forcing a Cougar timeout. After the timeout, Horken served up an ace to give the Eagles a 20-15 lead. ABW tried to battle back and got within a 23-18 deficit before Lawrence had a big kill to give Sacred Heart a 24-28 lead. ABW scored the next two points on kills from Engel and Syverson, but Sacred Heart scored on the next point and won the set 25-20 to get within a 2-1 deficit.
FOURTH SET –
The fourth set was a good back-and-forth battle with ties at 2 and 3 before ABW scored the next two points to take a 5-3 lead. ABW built a 13-9 lead before Sacred Heart three straight points capped by an Izzy Cwikla ace to get within a 13-12 deficit. The teams played evenly for a while until ABW took a 19-15 lead before Sared Heart’s Lydia Riskey had back-to-back kills to get within a 20-17 deficit. Sacred Heart hit out of bounds beofre ABW served out of bounds and Lawrence had a kill to get within a 21-19 deficit. ABW’s Engel followed with a kill and Syverson blasted an attack through two Eagle blockers for another point. Sacred Heart hhit into the net and Engel served up an ace to win the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
Sacred Heart ends the season with a 29-2 record with both losses to ABW and they will say goodbye to the following seniors – Kayla Benson, Sophie Werner, Ella Kuntz, Izzy Cwikla, and Mackenzie Gjerswold. Ada-Borup-West improves to 23-8 on the year and will find out on Saturday where they are seeded and who they will play in the first round of state volleyball tournament on Thursday, November 6 at the Grand Casino Arena (formerly the Excel Energy Center) in St. Paul.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Ada-Borup-West | 25 | 25 | 20 | 25 |
| Sacred Heart | 23 | 16 | 25 | 19 |
For Sacred Heart
Kills – Lexi Lawrence – 20, Lydia Riskey – 18, Stella Riskey – 9
Blocks – Finley Horken – 1, Bryn Stevens – 1, Stella Riskey – 1
Digs – Izzy Cwikla – 21, Lydia Riskey – 17, Lexi Lawrence- 16
Assists – Finley Horken – 48
Aces – Finley Horken – 1, Lydia Riskey – 1, Izzy Cwikla -1, Claire Adolphson -1, Kayla Benson – 1
