The Badger Greenbush Middle River Volleyball team dominated the first set, survived the second and cruised again in the third set to sweep the Sacred Heart Eagles 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-11) on Thursday night in Greenbush.
SET ONE –
BGMR set the tone right out of the gate by jumping out to a 12-3 lead to open the first set, and the Eagles never really got much closer. The Gators were sparked by six kills in the first set from sophomore middle hitter Jade Reese. “I definitely feel like that fast start helped (BGMR) a lot,” Sacred Heart head coach Ellen Demsing said. “It kind of set the tone and the pace, and we were not able to catch up in that first set.”
SET TWO –
The second set got off to a much more competitive start, and Sacred Heart used a 3-0 run to take a 10-8 lead. The Gators came back, using a 7-2 run of their own to take an 18-12 lead in set two, prompting a Sacred Heart timeout. After the timeout, the Eagles rallied to tie the set at 21-21. The final stretch of the set belonged to the Gators, as BGMR capitalized off of several Sacred Heart offensive errors to take the second set, 25-22. “Our serve receive was breaking down, and we weren’t able to get the passes we wanted,” Coach Demsing said. “That can’t get us a set, or get us that kill that we usually see.”
SET THREE –
The final set was rarely in doubt, as BGMR once again got off to a lightning fast start, and got up 20-9 in a hurry. The Eagles rallied with a late ace serve from senior libero Paige Brandner, but the Gators put it away shortly thereafter and completed a sweep against the Eagles in a match that only lasted 57 minutes. Sophomore outside hitter Kinsley Hanson was particularly dominant in the final set with six kills. “We just need to swing better on every ball,” Eagles’ head coach Demsing said. “That was BGMR’s strength tonight. They swung on everything. We need to get faster swings and get our bodies behind the ball and on serve receive.”
The Eagles fall to 3-2 on the season, while Badger Greenbush Middle River improves to 2-2. Sacred Heart is back home on Tuesday, October 27 to host Red Lake County Central. BGMR heads to Warroad on the same day. Both of those matches start at 7:30 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sacred Heart | 12 | 22 | 11 |
| BGMR | 25 | 25 | 25 |
For Sacred Heart –
Kills – Kyra Majors – 6, Sydney Lloyd – 4
Digs – Paige Brander – 4
Assists – Dana Walski – 16
Blocks – Sydney Lloyd, Kyra Majors, Grace Vonesh – 1
Aces – Bella Knudson, Paige Brander – 2
For BGMR –
Kills – Jade Reese – 14, Kinsley Hanson – 13, Erika Howell – 4
Assists – Cassie Dahl – 32
Blocks – Jade Reese – 2, Jacey Wojchowski – 1
Aces – Ella Heggedal – 3
