The Fertile-Beltrami Falcon Volleyball team came up with big points when they needed them to beat the Red Lake Falls Eagles 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-21) in a Section 8A matchup played in Fertile.
FIRST SET
The match was back and forth at the beginning, with ties at 1, 2, and 3. Fertile-Beltrami rattled off four straight points capped by a Tessa Opdahl kill for a 7-3 lead. Red Lake Falls’ Shandi Nelson stopped the run with a kill. The teams exchanged points, and Fertile-Beltrami led 13-9. A Red Lake Falls serve went out of bounds, and then they hit into the net, and the Falcons led 15-9. Fertile-Beltrami led 18-11. Fertile-Beltrami served out of bounds and then had an attack go out of bounds. They were called for a double hit, and Red Lake Falls climbed within an 18-14 deficit. Red Lake Falls continued to scratch and claw their way back and got within a 20-18 deficit after Fertile-Beltrami hit out of bounds. Red Lake Falls had an attack go out of bounds, and after an attack error, Madison Stueness had a big kill, Dani Kresl followed with an ace for a 24-18 lead. Red Lake Falls scored the next three points to get within a 24-21 deficit before they served into the net, and Fertile-Beltrami won 25-21 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
SECOND SET
The second set was tied at 1 and 2 before Red Lake Falls went on a 5-1 run behind a Layna Shindler ace, a Shandi Nelson kill, and a few Fertile-Beltrami errors for a 7-3 lead. Fertile-Beltrami battled back with kills from Mya Erickson and Bailey Iverson, and after a couple of RLF errors, the Falcons trailed 7-6. The teams exchanged points the rest of the set and Red Lake Falls led 22-19. Fertile-Beltrami’s Brooke Fladhammer had two straight kills to get within a 22-21 deficit. Red Lake Falls’ Makenna Hoefer had a kill, Nelson had a block/kill for a 24-21 lead, and the Eagles were serving for set point. Fertile-Beltrami’s Fladhammer had a kill, and Iverson followed with a kill to get within a 24-23 deficit. Red Lake Falls had three errors on the next three points and Fertile-Beltrami came from behind to win 26-24 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
THIRD SET
The teams were tied at 1, 4, and 5 before Red Lake Falls’ Lytle had a kill, and the Falcons had three straight attack errors, giving the Eagles a 9-5 lead. Fertile-Beltrami slowly chipped away at the deficit and tied the set at 13 after a Fladhammer kill. Reese Bruggeman followed with an ace to take the lead for good at 14-13. Fertile-Beltrami led 15-14 when Fladhammer had another kill, Erickson had a block, and Iverson had a kill. After a RLF point, Erickson had a kill, and Iverson added a kill for a 20-15 lead. Red Lake Falls got within a 23-20 deficit before Tessa Opdahl had a kill, and after RLF’s Nelson recorded a kill, Fladhammer ended the match with a kill for a 25-21 victory to win the match 3-0.
Fertile-Beltrami improves to 2-0 on the year, while Red Lake Falls drops to 1-1.
J.V. – Fertile-Beltrami won 2-0 C-squad – Fertile-Beltrami won 2-0
CLICK BELOW to listen to Fertile-Beltrami Coach Keri Solie’s post-match comments.
CLICK BELOW to listen to Red Lake Falls Coach Nicki Gullingsrud’s post-match comments.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Red Lake Falls | 21 | 24 | 21 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 25 | 26 | 25 |
For Fertile-Beltrami
Kills – Tessa Opdahl-8, Brooke Fladhammer-8, Madison Stueness-8
Blocks – Brooke Fladhammer-5
Digs – Reese Bruggeman-13, Madison Stueness-6
Assists – Bailey Iverson-21
Aces – Reese Bruggeman-2
For Red Lake Falls
Kills – Elizabeth Lytle-9, Shandi Nelson-9
Blocks – Elizabeth Lytle-2.5, Hannah Robison-1,5
Digs – Layna Shindler-20, Reese Pahlen-16, Shandi Nelson-11
Assists – Kylie Klipping-11, Shandi Nelson-11
Aces – Layna Shindler-2
