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Volleyball Remains Undefeated 14-0

Brie Mattson
October 4, 2001

After a long stretch of rest with a weekend off, the Oles hit the court running Wednesday, October 3rd. On St. Mary?s home court, the Oles volleyball team competed at the highest intensity level yet for a match this season. The Cardinals and the Oles have always held a fierce rivalry, competing last year in the MIAC tournament championship match; the Oles taking the title last year and striving for it again this year. Once again the Oles came out on top during this week?s match up and have maintained their undefeated status, increasing it to 14-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference.

The match pitted two very competitive teams against each other. The rallies were long and exhausting for the players, the coaches, and the fans. With the change in rules this year to rally scoring for all games, the importance of every point increases as teams equally matched in skill battle for every point. Every game?s momentum can change on a single serve, which affects teams? confidence. These momentum changes occurred during the entire match against St. Mary?s. The game scores were consistently tight and revealed the competitiveness of both teams, 22-30, 30-20, 30-26, and 33-31. The match was ruled by defense on both sides of the court. The team totaled 50 digs with Katie Allenson (Sr., Champlin, Minn.) tallying 13 digs. It was the blocking by the Oles during the second game that seemed to have tuned the momentum for the Oles after losing the first game. The team totaled 10 blocks and each of those blocks came at ideal moments to pick up the Ole spirit for victory. The Ole middle hitter?s, Emily Ganzkow-Wold (Jr., Madison, Wis.-West) and Nicole Trnka (Sr., Morristown, Minn.-Bethlehem Academy), brought the crowd to their feet with blocked balls that hit the floor with power.

The Oles hope to carry this momentum forward as they challenge the Hamline University Pipers at 7:30 PM on Friday, October 5, and then Bethel College at 3:00 PM on Saturday, October 6. The Oles next home game will be at Skoglund Athletic Center at 7:30 PM on October 10 against the Macalester College Scots.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.