The NRHEG volleyball team dropped a couple tough matches last week, falling 3-2 at Alden-Conger on Tuesday and 3-1 to Maple River in New Richland Thursday, Sept. 8. The Panthers fell to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the Gopher Conference.
“We battled with a tough team tonight,” said Panthers coach Onika Peterson after Tuesday’s marathon loss at Alden, where the Knights prevailed 26-28, 25-22, 25-23, 27-29 and 15-11. “Alden at times had us back on our heels — they had us scrambling on defense. Because we were scrambling it was difficult for us to be able to set our offense up at times, which led to not being as aggressive hitting wise as we would like to be. We need to regroup and refocus.”
Senior setter Rachel Collins registered a remarkable 50 assists for the Panthers, who also got big nights from the Wagner twins.
Individually for NRHEG: Maddie Wagner 16 kills, 15 digs; Marnie Wagner 18 kills, 31 digs, 2 ace blocks, 1 ace serve; Natalie Aaseth 1 kill, 1 dig; Gretchen Ramaker 13 kills, 10 digs, 2 ace blocks; Collins 6 kills, 50 assists, 14 digs, 1 ace serve; Erin VanWilgen 21 digs; Olivia Christopherson 8 kills, 1 assist, 19 digs, 1 ace block; Grace Johns 29 digs.
The Panthers won the opener 26-24 over Maple River but dropped the next three 25-17, 25-18 and 25-22.
“We came out strong in game one,” said Coach Peterson. “We really started to struggle in game two and fell apart even more in game three. The girls fought extremely hard and almost pulled it off in game four.”
Individually: Maddie 5 kills, 8 digs, 1 ace serve; Marnie 6 kills, 21 digs, 1 ace block; Aaseth 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace block; Gabby Muri 1 kill, 1 dig; Ramaker 8 kills, 8 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace block; Collins 2 kills, 13 digs, 23 assists; Emily Crabtree 1 assist; VanWilgen 9 digs, 2 ace serves; Kelly Harden 1 kill; Christopherson 4 kills, 13 digs, 1 assist; Lauren Hermann 1 kill, 1 ace block; Betsy Schoenrock 2 kills, 2 assists, 1 ace block; Johns 12 digs, 1 ace serve.
“Tonight was rough for our serve receive,” said Coach Peterson. “We didn't pass to the best of our ability, which hurt us setting up our offense. We sent way too many tips and free balls over the net.”
NRHEG’s junior varsity won 25-23, 22-25, 15-11.