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Paynesville Press - October 18, 2006

Netters fall to LPGE, NL-S in WCC North

By Michael Jacobson

The Bulldogs volleyball team, still in search of their first win, was close to forcing a fifth set against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle on Thursday, but the Thunder rallied to take the fourth set and won the match 3-1.

volleyball tip "We played much more aggressive volleyball tonight and fought for the entire match," said coach Dawn Knoll. "The team needed to get rid of the mental mistakes that took points away from the team. When every error results in a point for the other team, it is of utmost importance to minimize the free points."

Senior Amanda Lieser tips the ball for one of her seven kills against LPGE last week. She added a block in the Dogs' four-set loss.

For the match, the Dogs won nearly as many points (85) as LPGE (89), but the Thunder clumped their points better, winning close first and second sets 25-19 and 25-18 and prevailing in the fourth set 25-23. The Dogs won the third set easily, 25-14, to force a fourth set.

The Dogs took an early 11-3 lead in the final set and kept it until LPGE tied the score at 16-16. The Dogs responded by taking four of the next six points to lead 20-18. They still led 22-21 when LPGE scored four of the last five points to win the set (and the match) 25-23.

Trailing 2-0, the Dogs jumped to a 4-0 lead in the third set and never trailed. They held leads of 15-6, 19-10, and 21-14 before scoring the final four points to win the set.

Junior Laura Schaefer led the Dogs with four kills during the set. Senior Chelsey Kalkbrenner added two kills during the set.

The Dogs took a 16-15 lead in the first set, only to see LPGE score 10 of the next 13 points to win the set 25-19. The second set was tied 8-8 when LPGE scored five service points to take the lead for good.

"(Junior) Kayla Lieser stepped into the setter's role with little difficulty, and we played a 6-2 for the last three games," said Knoll. "Our blocking was a factor that helped us tonight. There were several ace blocks for our team, and many more times when we got a hand on the ball that helped the defense pick it up."

Schaefer led the Dogs with 11 kills in the match and added six ace serves. Kalkbrenner added eight kills and three blocks. Senior Amanda Lieser also had seven kills.

This week, the Dogs traveled to Minnewaska on Tuesday night for their last conference match against the Lakers, who beat the Dogs in five sets at PAHS in September.

On Thursday, the Dogs (0-17) will play their final regular season games with a varsity-only tourna-ment at Sartell, starting at 9 a.m.

Next week, the Dogs will start subsection play on Thursday, Oct. 26. Seedings have yet to be announced.

LPGE--25 25 14 25
Paynesville--19 18 25 23

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Laura Schaefer 23/30 - 11A; Kristin Lang 18/20 - 4A; Chelsey Kalkbrenner 17/23 - 8A; Amanda Lieser 15/16 - 7A; Anna Kotten 9/9 - 2A; Team 90/106 - 32A;
Serving: Schaefer 22/24 - 6A; Kayla Lieser 15/15 - 1A; Lang 12/12; Chelsey Hansen 11/12; Kotten 9/10; Carissa Utsch 8/8; Kelli Flannigan 5/6 - 1A; Team 83/89 - 8A;
Blocks: Kalkbrenner 3; Kotten 2; Schaefer 2; Lang 1; Amanda Lieser 1;
Assists: Hansen 61/64 - 17A; Kayla Lieser 26/27 - 7A; Team 87/91 - 24A;
Digs: Flannigan 15; Utsch 14; Kotten 12; Schaefer 12; Hansen 9; Team 80.

NL-S 3, Paynesville 0
volleyball serve New London-Spicer swept the Dogs in three games during a West Central Conference North match at NL-S on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The Cats won the first set 25-12, the second 25-19, and the third 25-16. In all, the Wildcats won 75 points compared to 47 for Paynesville.

Senior Kirstin Lang had three ace serves, along with three kills, during the Dogs' loss at New London-Spicer last week.

"Our game just wasn't up to par tonight," said coach Dawn Knoll. "We did not get a hand on the balls in the front row by our blockers to be able to give our defense a chance to get to the balls. We also saw (junior) Laura Schaefer go down with a sprained ankle during the second game of the match and that took away a lot of our hitting power."

"We still need to be able to read the defense and put the ball to the floor more consistently," added Knoll.

Paynesville--12 19 16
NL-S--25 25 25

Individual Statistics
Hitting: Kristin Lang 13/14 - 3A; Chelsey Kalkbrenner 13/15 - 8A; Anna Kotten 13/15 - 5A; Laura Schaefer 9/14 - 2A; Team 56/68 - 18A;
Serving: Kayla Lieser 12/15; Lang 10/10 - 3A; Amanda Lieser 6/6 - 1A; Team 43/47 - 4A;
Blocks: Kotten 1;
Assists: Chelsey Hansen 66/69 - 18A; Team 66/69 - 18A;
Digs: Kayla Lieser 19; Amanda Lieser 16; Hansen 10; Schaefer 9; Team 81.



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