The Sacred Heart Eagles are one of the top teams in Section 8A and they proved why to the Crookston Pirate Volleyball team in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-9) victory to spoil Crookston’s parent night in a match played at the Crookston High School gymnasium.
Crookston continued to play solid volleyball in the first set. Sacred Heart jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind back-to-back Jessica Remer kills, but Crookston battle back to tie the set at 9-9 after a Hailey Seaver ace. “I think we did a good job of battling back,” said Crookston Coach Ashley Stopa. “We wanted the ball and we were aggressive and our serves were in.” The teams were tied again at 17, 18, and 20 before Sacred Heart ended the set on a 5-1 run for a 25-21 first set victory. Sacred Heart had four kills and one ace in their final five points. “It was a little bit of a slow start for us, but we got it done when we needed to,” said Sacred Heart Coach Emily Vonasek. “Once we picked up our offense we got some momentum and got going.”
The second set was tied at 2-2 before Sacred Heart went on an 8-1 run behind three Ivy Edwards kills for a 10-3 lead. “We were waiting for somebody else to get the ball,” said Pirate Coach Stopa. Sacred Heart built a 10 point lead a few points later after back-to-back kills by Maddi Mitzel and the Eagles cruised to a 25-13 victory for a 2-0 lead in the match. “When the ball is on our side of the net we want to take care of the ball and we did,” said Eagle Coach Vonasek.
The third set was close early on with Sacred Heart leading 7-5, but Sacred Heart’s Mitzel took over the match with seven kills in the set and the Eagles cruised to a 25-9 victory to win the match 3-0. “Maddi is a tremendous blocker and she had a good night offensively,” said Sacred Heart Coach Vonasek. “We had some pretty solid serving and it was a good match for us and we finished strong.”
Crookston drops to 2-3 on the year and will travel to Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal on Monday. Sacred Heart improves to 4-0 on the year and will play Badger-Greenbush-Middle River on Thursday.
Katelynn Genereux with a dig Ivy Edwards with a dig for Sacred Heart
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sacred Heart | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| CROOKSTON | 21 | 13 | 9 |
Rachel Hefta pushes the ball over the net as the official looks on
For Crookston
Kills – Rachel Hefta – 5, Hailey Seaver – 4
Blocks – Four players with 1
Assists – Kylie Solheim – 11
Digs – Rachel Hefta – 8, Emma Boll – 6
Aces – Hailey Seaver – 2
For Sacred Heart
Kills – Maddi Mitzel – 11, Jessica Remer – 9
Blocks – Maddi Mitzel – 2
Assists – Dana Walski – 19
Aces – Dana Walski – 3, Jessica Remer – 3
