When can a loss be a good thing? When you’re playing the No. 1 team in Class A and you learn something.
And TMB volleyball coach Heather Kamrud-Rice hopes her Panther volleyball team took away more than just a loss from Tuesday’s 12-25, 15-25, 14-25 Camden Conference setback at the hands of the Minneota Vikings.
“When you play a team that good, if you don’t see that as an opportunity to get better, than you’re missing out,” Kamrud-Rice said. “We learned a lot. We learned a lot about what they did on offense, what they did on defense.”
What the Vikings did — and usually do, no matter their opponent — is control the game at the net, both offensively with multiple, hard-hitting attackers, and defensively with a stout block that at time neutralized TMB hitters.
The Panthers got down 15-6 in Set 1, and the Vikings were able to keep them around that deficit for the rest of the set — a harbinger of things to come. However, the Panthers showed signs of resilience in the next two sets. TMB broke a 5-5 tie in Set 2 and took a 7-5 lead on a kill by Melaina Ankrum.
Minneota was able to separate itself later. After another Ankrum kill that made it 11-9, Minneota, the Vikings 8-0 run by virtue of six powerful kills and an ace serve. TMB cut its deficit to 22-15 on the kill by Elsie Knott, but that’s as close as the Panthers would get.
Once again in the third set, the Vikings crafted a comfortable lead at 15-5. It was 22-9 before TMB put on a mini rally, as kills by Braelynn Kirk and Knott and a service ace by Kirk cut the Vikings’ lead to 22-13.
“That last rally, you never know when you’re about to go on a run,” Kamrud-Rice said. “So the minute you give up, the minute you get down, you might miss an opportunity to go on another run, to learn. A lot of things that were happening in that rally were adjustments they were making. The girls were making adjustments — this girl swings this way, and we’ve got to get our block over here, we’ve got to cover tighter … they knew what didn’t work and were trying something different.”
ALLIE ADAMS slams down one of her four kills against the Vikings on Tuesday.
from the back row Tuesday. TMB’S MELAINA ANKRUM passes to a teammate
Minneota made it 23-13 before an Allie Adams kill put the score at 23-14, but the Vikings were able to close it out with two straight points.
“We talked about some mind-set things this week, mental toughness,” Kamrud-Rice said. “The girls aren’t excited about what they learned, but if it doesn’t make you better, it makes you weaker. I feel like this is a team that is going to get stronger from this.”
Ankrum finished with six kills and 10 assists, and Adams and Kirk had four and three kills, respectively. Kirk also had a pair of ace serves and seven digs.
• The Oct. 2 match at Lakeview has been moved to Monday at the same time.
Minneota 25 25 25 TMB 12 15 14 Kills: Ankrum 6, Adams 4, Knott 3, Kirk 3, Freeburg, Lanoue. Aces: Kirk 2, Ankrum. Digs: Kirk 7, Hoffman 5, Adams 3, Ankrum 3,
Knott 2, Dolan 2. Assists: Ankrum 10, Dolan 4, Kirk 2, Lanoue.
Sept. 25: TMB 3, D-B 0
Piper Freeburg had 12 kills and five service aces, and Alli Dolan had nine digs and nine assists in a 25-20, 31-29, 25-19 Camden Conference sweep over Dawson-Boyd last Thursday.
Braelynn Kirk added seven digs, six kills and four aces, and Gretchen Lanoue had nine kills and three digs. Melaina Ankrum contributed with 12 assists, eight digs and six kills.
TMB 25 31 25 D-B 20 29 19 Kills: Lanoue 9, Kirk 6, Ankrum 6, Adams 5, Knott 3, Martinez 3, Swenhaugen. Aces: Freeburg 5, Kirk 4, Adams 3, Ankrum, Dolan. Digs: Freeburg 12, Dolan 9, Ankrum 8, Kirk 7, Lanoue 3, Martinez 2, Carter, Knott. Assists: Ankrum 12, Dolan 9, Freeburg 5, Kirk 2.
MELAINA ANKRUM completes a back set to outside hitter Gretchen Lanoue during Tuesday’s match against Minneota. Photo / Per Peterson
