One week removed from a huge win over the sixth-ranked Canby Lancers, Central Minnesota Christian might have thought they could cruise over the 6-12 Panthers on Tuesday.
But cruise was the last thing the Bluejays did. CMCS had its hands full all night before prevailing with a 2521, 15-16, 26-24 Camden Conference victory.
“I’m proud with how aggressive we were, and I hope that they felt how important staying aggressive in is our game,” TMB coach Heather Kamrud-Rice said. “Whenever someone is playing not to make a mistake, you play down and you play slow. I felt like tonight, the times that we really pushed them and when we really shined is when we were just putting it out there.”
The two teams played to a 10-10 tie to start the opening set, and CMCS was only able to build a lead more than two points when it went up 22-19. Braelynn Kirk slammed down a kill to make it 22-20, but TMB was able to muster just one more point the rest of the set.
The Panthers struggled to start Set 2, falling behind 9-1 right off the bat before a kill by Bella Martinez and a CMCS hitting error.
“That was tough, because a lot of times I like to look for something to fix on the offense or fix on the defense, but there wasn’t a lot that we needed to switch,” Kamrud-Rice said of the eight-point deficit. “I told them that they had to go out and keep playing aggressively because if we don’t get aggressive, this is what the rest of the set is going to look like.”
The Bluejays committed a couple more miscues, and a kill by Melaina Ankrum brought TMB to within seven points. That margin carried through the next few points, but another Kirk kill made brought the Panthers to within 16-11. The lead was 17-13 after a Kirk block, but CMCS continued to control things at the net, and other than kills by Alli Dolan and Martinez, points were hard to come by for the Panthers the rest of the way.
CMCS found the going tougher in the third set. Even though the Bluejays were able to open up a 15-9 lead, Martinez recorded a kill after a TMB timeout to make it 15-10. The Panthers weren’t done there. A kill by Ankrum pulled the Panthers to within a point at 17-16, and TMB later tied it at 20 on an ace serve by Piper Freeburg. CMCS got to set point at 24-22, but then committed two hitting errors to make it 24-24. The Bluejays then closed out the match with a kill and a TMB hitting error.
One reason the Panthers were able to stay with CMCS was their proficiency from the service line.
“There weren’t as many missed serves as we’ve had in other games,” Kamrud-Rice said. “It’s hard to keep that momentum going when you miss a serve, and we were doing a really good job at the service line.”
Kirk finished with eight kills, Ankrum had seven and Elsie Knott four. Allie Adams led the way in digs with 15, and Freeburg had 14. Ankrum had 17 set assists, and Dolan had nine assists and six digs.
VB CMCS 25 25 26 TMB 21 16 24 Kills: Kirk 8, Ankrum 7, Adams 3, Martinez 3, Dolan 2, Lanoue 2. Digs: Adams 15, Freeburg 14, Kirk 9, Ankrum 8, Dolan 6, Martinez 3, Hoffman 2, Knott. Assists: Ankrum 17, Dolan 9, Kirk. Aces: Lanoue. Blocks: Lanoue, Knott, Martinez.
BRAELYNN KIRK passes to a teammate from the back row.
ALLI DOLAN serves for the Panthers.
SIBLEY EAST TOURNAMENT
The Panthers finished 2-3 at this past weekend’s Sibley East Tournament. The two wins were sweeps over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and Sibley East.
For the tournament, Kirk had 37 kills and four ace serves in 10 sets, and Ankrum had 32 assists, 28 kills, 25 digs nine aces and three blocks. Kirk also had 40 digs, Freeburg had 39 digs and Alli Dolan had 33 assists, 15 digs and six ace serves. Freeburg had 39 digs and five aces, and Lauren Knakmuhs collected 22 digs and four ace serves.Taylor Munson added 18 digs and four had blocks, and Gretchen Lanoue had 16 digs, 12 kills and two blocks.
SIBLEY EAST CUMULATIVE STATS Kills: Kirk 37, Ankrum 28, Lanoue 12, Knott 12, Martinez 4, Munson 3, Dolan 3. Digs: Kirk 40, Freeburg 39, Ankrum 25, Knakmuhs 22, Munson 18, Dolan 15, Hoffman 11. Assists: Dolan 33, Ankrum 32, Kirk 9, Freeburg 5, Knakmuhs 3, Lanoue 2, Munson. Aces: Ankrum 9, Dolan 6, Freeburg 5, Kirk 4, Knakmuhs 4, Martinez 3, Lanoue. Blocks: Munson 4, Ankrum 3, Lanoue 2, Knott, Kirk, Martinez.
SEPT. 18: TMB 3, ORTONVILLE 2
The Panthers rebounded from a Set 1 loss to defeat Ortonville 18-25, 25-16, 29-27, 24-26, 15-11 in a Camden Conference thriller last Thursday.
Melaina Ankrum had 20 set assists, 16 kills, seven blocks and three aces, 15 digs; Alli Dolan had 19 assists, 14 digs and two aces; Braelynn Kirk had 15 digs, 14 kills and three aces; Allie Adams knocked down 11 kills; Cheyenne Hoffman had 14 digs, and Piper Freeburg had 11 digs.
“After a hard-fought night against state ranked MACCRAY (last) Tuesday and a two-hour bus ride, our girls had to dig deep to find the fight for the win,” Kamrud-Rice said. “I’m so proud of their resilience. Our serve receive and our blocking were the best we’ve had all season.”
TMB 3, Ortonville 2 TMB 18 25 29 24 15 Ortonville 25 16 27 26 11 Kills: Ankrum 16, Kirk 14, Adams 11, Lanoue 6, Knott 4, Dolan, Martinez. Digs: Ankrum 15, Kirk 15, Hoffman 14, Freeburg 11, Dolan 10, Adams 9, Martinez 6, Lanoue, Knott. Set assists: Ankrum 20, Dolan 19, Freeburg 3, Hoffman 2, Knott, Adams. Ace serves: Kirk 3, Ankrum 3, Dolan 2, Martinez 2, Adams. Blocks: Ankrum 7, Lanoue 6, Martinez 3, Knott 2, Adams, Kirk.
