MHS Girls Volleyball Team Stuns Sisseton

The MHS girls volleyball team came from behind to stun Sisseton 3-2 at home. Set scores were: 20-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17, and 15-10. The match was their first face-off of the 2022 season.

Nancy Hoeke, head coach for the Lady Bulldogs, said, “Opening-match jitters seemed to get to us. We didn’t play together and lacked leadership.

In set one, we were within four points most of the time, but couldn’t put a run together. In set two, we were down by as much as seven, but lost the set by four, so we gained a little steam.”

“In the third set, Addisyn Krause got it together with her serve, and in the first eight points, she pulled off three aces. That made it tough on Sisseton’s receivers,” Hoeke commented. “We led 8-0, and it changed the whole mindset of our players and the match! We only got behind  two times for the remainder of the match.”

Hoeke said she also made an adjustment to the way the Lady bulldogs were defending Sisseton’s Krista Langager. “Langager was scoring at will, but with our blocking adjustment, she wasn’t able to be quite as deadly.”

In sets four and five, I thought our strategic serving got Sisseton out of sync and they weren’t able to get as many good set-ups and attacks,” she noted. Coach Hoeke also said that after that point, “Our confidence continued to grow, and we played better as a team.”

The Lady Bulldogs went 95 of 105 serving for 90 percent with 13 aces. Individually, Rachel Schulte led the way with 20 of 20, including 3 aces. Casside Seezs was 19 of 20; Averie Engebretson 12 of 13, with 5 aces; Emily Wollschlager 9 of 10; Addisyn Krause 25 of 29, with 5 aces; Hallie Schulte 10 of 12; and Claire Snaza 0 of 1.

Other stats from the match included:

Attacks 

Rachel Schulte 34-39, with 14 kills;  Casside Seezs 27-33, with 9 kills; Averie Engebretson 39-44, with 6 kills; Rylie Overby 22-28, with 5 kills; Claire Snaza 19-24, with 3 kills; Shaylee Schuchard 8-16, with 3 kills; Addisyn Krause 5-5, with 1 kill.

Assists

Addisyn Krause 94-95, with 28 assists; Averie Engebretson 49-52, with 7 assists; Hallie Schulte 6-7, with 3 assists.

Digs

Hallie Schulte, 24; Addisyn Krause, 10; Rachel Schulte, 9; Emily Wollschlager, 9; and Averie Engebretson, 7.

Blocks – (All Assisted)

Claire Snaza, 3; Rachel Schulte, 2; Casside Seezs, 2; Averie Engebretson, 1; Rylie Overby, 1;and  Addisyn Krause, 1.

“So proud of the girls for their effort,” Hoeke said. “They easily could have cashed in after the second set. They showed so much (grit) by battling back to win the last three sets. It sets a very good tone for the season!”