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Teams played two games to 25 points in the tournament (with the total points scored as a tie-breaker in case the teams split the two games).

In pool play, the Dogs played matches against the other three teams in the pool. The Dogs swept Lincoln-Hendricks-Ivanhoe; tied Yellow Medicine East, losing the first set 25-23 but winning the second by an identical score 25-23; and beat Luverne by total points, winning the first set 25-19 and losing the second set by a smaller margin 25-21.

For third place, the Dogs played host Montevideo and lost despite splitting the two sets. The Dogs lost the first set 25-18 and won the second set 25-21, but not scoring enough total points to beat Monte.

Against Lincoln-Hendricks-Ivanhoe, senior Shonda Martinson led the Dogs with five kills, and senior Melanie Mages was next with four. Senior Ashley Lieser led the Dogs in serving, including three aces, and with ten digs.

Senior Shonda Martinson had 16 kills in a tournament at Montevideo on Saturday as the Bulldogs went 2-1-1 and took fourth place.

"The Bulldogs passed well during this match and were able to hit the ball against a shorter team," said coach Dawn Knoll. The team also did a nice job of passing and controlling the tempo, added Knoll. "The other team gave us an opportunity to work on our tip coverage because that was their main offensive weapon. Our coverage was solid throughout this match," she said.

Against Yellow Medicine East, the two teams tied with 46 total points each. Martinson led the team with six kills, senior Lynn Lieser led the team in serving, including two aces; and junior Chelsey Kalkbrenner was perfect in serving, also with two aces, and led the team by going 11 of 12 in serve receiving.

"This was a fun match for the spectators to watch because the teams were so evenly matched. The score are very representative of the type of back-and-forth match this was," said Knoll. "It was almost as if we were playing ourselves throughout the match. Our strengths were hitting and serving, and so were theirs. It boiled down to playing hard-nosed defense, and both teams did. This is one of the few times that there was a tie in a volleyball match."

Against Luverne, the Dogs used their 25-19 victory in the first set propel them to victory, despite losing the second set 25-21. Lynn Lieser led the Dogs with seven kills while Mages added five and Martinson four. Lieser had 16 set assists for kills. Sophomore Kayla Lieser led the Dogs by going 14 of 15 in serve receiving and also had seven digs.

"This match was another close one for the Bulldogs. They were a very scrappy team, and we did not hit as well as we could have. We mixed things up a bit with the lineup and shuffled a couple of people into different hitting assignments. This showed us that we can be versatile with our hitters," said Knoll. "The thing that hurt us in this match was our serving. Serving errors are hard to understand because it is the only part of the game that we control completely. As a team, we had seven serving errors. This translates into a potential nine-point swing in the match because of the rally scoring."

Despite a 2-0-1 record in pool play, the Dogs played for third place while YME advanced to the title match, based on winning five of six sets in pool play, whereas the Dogs won four of six. YME beat Lakeview in straight sets for the title, so the only set they lost in the tourney was to Paynesville.

Against Monte, Kalkbrenner led the Dogs with five kills. Sophomore Laura Schaefer had three in seven perfect attempts. Junior Kristin Lang led the Dogs with four blocks.

"This was another hard-fought match that could have gone either way. The Thunderhawks are a tough team, but we played right with them throughout the match. A couple of players really stepped up their intensity during this match. Kristin Lang played a strong middle blocker position and stopped many of the attacks by the Monte players with her blocks and Laura Schaefer came in off the bench and played outside very well. Lynn and Ashley Lieser showed their experience with very consistent play all the way around," said Knoll.

"Our main problem in this match was that we could tell we were fatigued. Errors that did not occur earlier in the tournament were apparentŠnet violations, missed defensive coverages, and using too many free balls to get the ball over the net," she added.

This week, the Dogs (3-5-1) hosted LPGE on Tuesday. The Dogs will travel to Minnewaska on Thursday and will travel to St. Cloud Cathedral on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Pool Play

Paynesville--	25	25
Lincoln-Hendricks-Ivanhoe--	21	19

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Shonda Martinson 13/14 - 5A; Melanie Mages 8/12 - 4A; Kristin Lang 6/8 - 1A; Lynn Lieser 5/5 - 1A; Team 40/48 - 13A;
Serving: Ashley Lieser 16/16 - 3A; Martinson 10/10 - 1A; Lynn Lieser 9/9; Laura Schaefer 4/4 - 1A; Team 48/50 - 5A;
Assists: Ashley Lieser 31/31 - 6A; Chelsey Kalkbrenner 6/6 - 1A; Team 39/39 - 7A;
Serve Receiving: Kalkbrenner 4/7; Mages 4/7; Team 20/30;
Digs: Ashley Lieser 10/12; Mages 10/14; Lynn Lieser 7/9; Team 38/57.

Paynesville--	23	25
Yellow Medicine East--	25	23

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Martinson 18/19 - 6A; Lynn Lieser 14/17 - 2A; Mages 12/17 - 3A; Lang 10/11 - 2A; Kalkbrenner 5/6 - 2A; Team 59/70 - 16A;
Serving: Lynn Lieser 11/11 - 2A; Kalkbrenner 8/8 - 2A; Ashley Lieser 10/11 - 2A; Mages 5/5; Amanda Skalicky 5/5; Team 45/47 - 6A;
Assists: Ashley Lieser 54/54 - 12A; Mages 1/1 - 1A; Team 60/60 - 13A;
Serve Receiving: Kalkbrenner 11/12; Skalicky 7/9; Kayla Lieser 6/8; Lynn Lieser 5/6; Team 36/41;
Digs: Mages 15/19; Ashley Lieser 10/14; Kayla Lieser 7/11; Lynn Lieser 6/8; Team 50/71.

Paynesville--	25	21
Luverne--	19	25

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Lynn Lieser 16/18 - 7A; Martinson 15/15 - 4A; Mages 15/19 - 5A; Kalkbrenner 7/9 - 2A; Team 59/69 - 21A;
Serving: Ashley Lieser 11/12; Lynn Lieser 8/8 - 1A; Mages 8/9 - 1A; Team 40/47 - 3A;
Blocks: Lang 1; Martinson 1;
Assists: Ashley Lieser 47/47 - 16A; Chelsey Kalkbrenner 5/5 - 1A; Team 54/54 - 17A;
Serve Receiving: Kayla Lieser 14/15; Lynn Lieser 9/9; Mages 7/7; Team 36/40;
Digs: Mages 10/12; Ashley Lieser 8/8; Lynn Lieser 8/12; Kayla Lieser 7/11; Team 40/56.

Third Place

Paynesville--	18	25
Montevideo--	25	21

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Kalkbrenner 8/11 - 5A; Lynn Lieser 8/9 - 2A; Schaefer 7/7 - 3A; Team 34/39 - 11A;
Serving: Ashley Lieser 8/8 - 2A; Martinson 8/8; Skalicky 5/5 - 1A; Team 38/41 - 3A;
Blocks: Lang 4; Martinson 1;
Assists: Ashley Lieser 31/31 - 7A; Team 31/32 - 7A;
Serve Receiving: Kayla Lieser 16/20; Schaefer 9/11; Kalkbrenner 8/9; Team 38/45;
Digs: Lynn Lieser 9/13; Kayla Lieser 8/11; Team 32/51.

Paynesville 3, NL-S 0
The Dogs got their first win of the season by sweeping New London-Spicer on Thursday. Playing on the road, the Dogs won the first set 25-18 and the second and third sets 25-22.

"The girls played a sluggish match but were able to get a much-needed win," said head coach Dawn Knoll. "It is always a confidence boost when you are able to mark one up in the win column."

Seniors Melanie Mages and Shonda Martinson led the Dogs with ten kills and nine kills respectively. Junior Chelsey Kalkbrenner added five kills (in only eight attempts), and senior Lynn Lieser and junior Kristin Lang both had four kills.

"The Bulldogs had some very strong hits throughout the evening. Mel Mages, Lynn Lieser, and Shonda Martinson were hitting the ball fairly well. Kristin Lang is developing into a good middle blocker and is getting better with every match," added Knoll. "Kayla Lieser has stepped up and is doing a great job in the libero position."

Kayla Lieser, a sophomore, led the Dogs by going 12 of 14 in serve receiving and was a perfect 14 of 14 in digging.

The Dogs improved to 1-4 in conference play with the win.

Paynesville--	25	25	25
New London-Spicer--	18	22	22

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Shonda Martinson 21/23 - 9A; Melanie Mages 17/22 - 10A; Kristin Lang 15/16 - 4A; Lynn Lieser 22/26 - 4A; Chelsey Kalkbrenner 9/13 - 5A; Team 84/103 - 32A;
Serving: Ashley Lieser 11/12 - 2A; Lynn Lieser 10/12 - 2A; Amanda Skalicky 7/8 - 3A; Kalkbrenner 14/17 - 2A; Team 63/75 - 10A;
Blocks: Mages (1 solo, 1 assist); Ashley Lieser (1 solo); Martinson (1 solo); Lang (1 assist);
Assists: Ashley Lieser 87/90 - 31A; Team 98/102 - 32A;
Serve Receiving: Mages 11/11; Kayla Lieser 12/14; Lynn Lieser 9/9; Skalicky 7/7; Team 50/53;
Digs: Kayla Lieser 14/14; Ashley Lieser 10/12; Lynn Lieser 14/18; Mages 9/10; Kalkbrenner 8/10; Team 83/93.

Sauk Centre 3, Paynesville 2
Sauk Centre rallied, winning the final three sets and beating the Dogs in a five-game match on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

The Dogs took the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-20, but Sauk Centre rallied to win the third set 25-15 and dominated the final two sets, winning 25-10 and 15-8.

"The team played very well for two and a half games," said Knoll. "We came out on fire and had Sauk Centre on the ropes. Then we started playing tentatively."

"The players showed the potential that we have and now we have to put all the pieces together and be able to finish the match. Chelsey Kalkbrenner had a great match; she just wanted to play well and that was evident on the floor."

Kalkbrenner, a junior, led the Dogs with nine kills. She also was among the team leaders in serving, serve receiving, and digging.

Knoll also praised senior Ashley Lieser for her setting. She was "setting everything that we passed to her. She is doing a great job running the offense," said Knoll.

Paynesville--	25	25	15	10	8
Sauk Centre--	21	20	25	25	15

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Chelsey Kalkbrenner 21/27 - 9A; Lynn Lieser 30/35 - 6A; Shonda Martinson 22/26 - 6A; Melanie Mages 21/26 - 6A; Kristin Lang 19/25 - 3A; Team 114/141 - 30A;
Serving: Lang 12/12 - 3A; Mages 12/12 - 2A; Kalkbrenner 13/15; Amanda Skalicky 13/15 - 2A; Martinson 6/7 - 1A; Team 76/84 - 8A;
Blocks: Ashley Lieser (1 solo, 1 assist); Martinson (1 solo, 1 assist); Kalkbrenner (1 solo); Lang (1 assist); Lynn Lieser (1 assist);
Assists: Ashley Lieser 121/124 - 21A; Skalicky 7/7 - 2A; Team 133/137 - 23A;
Serve Receiving: Mages 20/22; Skalicky 20/23; Lynn Lieser 18/20; Kalkbrenner 11/12; Team 82/93;
Digs: Lynn Lieser 18/22; Kalkbrenner 16/21; Mages 14/19; Ashley Lieser 13/16; Team 84/105.