Sacred Heart Volleyball Advances With Win Over Fosston

Game #1
The two teams were going back and forth with Sacred Heart having a 9-6 lead when the Eagles went on a 5-0 run behind the serving of Dana Walski and the hitting at the net by Maddi Mitzel and Ivy Edwards and Sacred Heart ran away with a 25-15 win to start out with a 1-0 lead. “It was a good start for us,” said Sacred Heart head coach Emily Vonasek, “It helped set the tone for the rest of the night.”

Game #2
Fosston got out to the early lead in the second game and led by four to starts things out before Sacred Heart battled back to tie the game at 11-11 with the serving of Mitzel with a couple aces. From then on it was a battle with ties at 14, 15 and 16. The Greyhounds took an 18-17 lead with a big hit for a point from Brianna Vig and a couple mistakes by Sacred Heart. Fosston streaked out to a 21-18 lead and had
Sacred Heart on their heels and when Taylor Kroening tipped one over it gave the Greyhounds a 23-18 lead and forced the Eagles into a timeout. After the short break, Fosston had a mishit and in the net violation and it was 23-21 Fosston. Fosston’s Jamie Carlin punished a set over for a point, but Fosston then had a missed served followed by an in the net violation again and it as 24-23 Fosston. Sacred Heart would come up with a huge block to tie it at 24-24 and Fosston used a timeout. After Mitzel’s hit was blocked out of bounds and Sacred Heart led 25-24 and they won the game on a block by sophomore Syndey Lloyd to give Sacred Heart a 26-24 come from behind win and take a two games to none lead. “This was huge for us and a great comeback by us,” said Vonasek, “Everyone needed to do their jobs, middles, outside, passing, setting and we got that with everyone contributing.”

Game #3
Fosston showed good resolve, after losing the tough second set, to start the third game jumping out to a 4-1 lead with Emma Drellack’s smash and Carlin doing the same. The Greyhounds extended that lead to 7-2 and Sacred Heart called a quick timeout, but a hit into the net by the Eagles and Fosston led 8-2 and Sacred Heart’s Bella Knutson came up with a kill to stop the Greyhounds run. The Eagles would go on a 5-1 run to close the gap to 9-7 with Edwards serving and hitting leading the way and now Fosston took a timeout. Fosston ran off three straight including a huge block by Jamie Carlin and it as a 12-7 lead. Fosston would have some problems with a couple mishits followed by a Jessica Remer blast to allow Sacred Heart to close it to a 12-10 Fosston lead. Jamie Carlin would have another tremendous block, Brooklyn
Ostenaa on a nice tip and a mishit by Sacred Heart and Fosston was now up 15-11. As they have the entire match Sacred Heart comes right back with a couple hits for points for Remer, Mitzel a tip and later a kill and Fosston lead was 17-16. The two teams had a lengthy rally that ended with Fosston hitting it into the net and Sacred Heart took the lead at 18-17 and seven points away from winning the match and advancing to the Section championship! Now the momentum was on the Eagles side and Edwards with a huge block but it was answered by Fosston’s Kroening, but Edwards again with a big blast and a 21-19 lead for the Eagles. The two teams traded points to make it 22-20 Sacred Heart which was followed by a kill by Vig and now its 22-21, but the Greyhounds were called in the net again and Sacred Heart leads 23-21.
After a great save by Fosston it was followed by Jamie Carlin block for a point and it’s 23-22.  Sacred Heart’s Edwards said they wanted this one, “I was asking God that we don’t want to go to a fifth game, please. Our comeback was a great team effort.” Sacred Heart had a hit go too far and it was now tied 23-23. Fosston would get a reversal of a call at the net which the officials said it went off Sacred Heart and now Fosston was serving for game three at 24-23, but first a Sacred Heart timeout. Fosston would win the game on a serve by the Greyhounds Rebeka Ware and a 25-23 win to cut Sacred Heart’s lead to 2 games to 1. “Fosston wasn’t going to lay down and credit them for not going away, they are a very good team.”