Sophie Stork, Sarah George, Hallie Schultz, Rhys Martin, Erin Jacobson, and Sidney Schultz, celebrate after a point.
The Panther spikers played two matches and a tournament last week, winning two and losing three at a Tri-City United tournament.
Thursday night saw the Lady Panthers hosting Blooming Prairie in its homecoming match, defeating the Blossoms three games to one. Game scores were 26-24, 25-20, 25-16, and 25-19.
Game one was the closest of the four games, and saw the Panthers caught on their back foot, falling into a 10-point deficit early. The Panthers slowly crawled back, but were unable to overcome their slow start.
“We were right there, but couldn’t finish,” NRHEG Head Coach Onika Peterson said. “The rest of the night we seemed to be moving better.”
After losing game one 26-24, the spikers momentum carried them to three straight victories.
“We had better control on our passing and were more aggressive at the net,” Coach Peterson explained. “We cut down some of our mental mistakes from the first set.”
Individually for the Panthers: Erin Jacobson, 14 kills, 8 digs, 3 ace serves; Sophie Stork, 16 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace block, 3 ace serves; Bree Ihrke, 10 kills, 3 ace blocks, 2 ace serves; Hallie Schultz, 30 assists, 3 kills, 2 ace blocks, 3 ace serves; Sarah George, 4 kills; Rhys Martin, 2 kills, 2 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace block, 3 ace serves; Bailey Ihrke, 2 digs; Sidney Schultz, 15 digs, 1 assist, 1 ace serve; Faith Nielsen, 1 assist, 1 ace serve.
With the win, the Panthers record grew to 11-5, (4-2 conference).
“It was great to get a win at home on homecoming week,” Coach Peterson said. “And we have a lot of games left.”
The Panthers traveled to Martin Luther-GHEC-Truman, Friday, Oct. 1, defeating the Jaguars three games to zero.
The closest game of the match was the first one, which saw the Panther come away with a three-point win. Game scores were 25-22, 25-15, and 25-15.
“It was a great team win tonight,” Coach Peterson said. “We had a lot of kids contributing. The girls moved the ball well, and really worked together to get the win.”
It was the second win for the Panthers during a busy homecoming week, which saw the Panthers travel to TCU for a tournament following the back-to-back wins.
Individually for the Panthers: Jacobson, 5 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace block, 1 ace serve; Stork, 8 kills, 6 digs, 2 ace serves; Bree Ihrke, 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 assist, 3 ace blocks, 4 ace serves; George, 5 kills, 4 ace blocks; Martin, 3 kills, 2 digs, 2 ace blocks, 4 ace serves; Bailey Ihrke, 1 kill, 2 digs; Nielsen 14 assists, 3 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace block, 1 ace serve; Schultz 8 digs, 1 assists.
“It was great to pick up our second win of homecoming week before our big tournament,” Coach Peterson said. The non-conference win improved the Panthers record to 12-5.
A Saturday Oct. 2 tournament saw the spikers busy week continue on a long road trip to TCU. The Panthers tied in their first match against TCU, losing game one 25-20, but winning game two 25-21, to force the split.
Round two saw the Panthers fight hard in a losing effort to Zumbrota Mazeppa. Game one was close and the second game was not. The girls lost 26-24 and 25-13.
In round three the Panthers again played close games, but couldn’t pull away, falling to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial two games to none. Game scores were 25-22 and 25-19.
In the final round the Panthers concluded their sixth match in three days, falling two games to one against Fairmont. The spikers won game one 25-21, lost game two 25-18 and ultimately couldn’t pull out a close game three, falling 15-13.
The Panthers traveled to Hayfield Tuesday, Oct. 5, and return home to play JWP Thursday, Oct. 7.