Kasson-Mantorville Volleyball Impressive in Victory over Bethlehem Academy

The volleyball was fun to watch in Van Orsow Auditorium if you like seeing competitive matches.

The Class A No. 1-rated Bethlehem Academy Cardinals appeared to have an off night in their back row and other areas of the game, but give the Class AA No. 9-rated Kasson-Mantorville Komets all the credit as they took advantage of Cardinal mistakes.

That's what good teams do and the Komets are a very good team. They had a happy bus ride home. After dropping the first set 26-24, they reeled off three straight wins 25-23, 25-23 and 25-22.

Cardinal head coach Franz Boelter was not happy about the 12 service aces the Komets racked up and the 12 service errors his team committed. That's nearly a game's worth of points just given away.

The first set was really exciting with the Cardinals taking what appeared to be a commanding lead only to see Kasson-Mantorville come storming back. Bethlehem Academy had three set points before the Komets tied the set at 24 each.

The highlight of the night for the Cardinals would happen on the next two points. Junior libero Keely Skluzacek got to a ball that was about to land in one of her coach's laps and from that position was able to get it back over the net for a point. It was awesome!

Then freshman Olivia Nass smacked a perfect serve that tickled the top of the net and dropped over for an ace and the Cardinals were 26-24 victors.

In the second set, Kasson-Mantorville took a commanding lead only to see the Cardinals come storming back. The Komets were able to hold on for a 25-23 win thanks in large part to six service aces, two by Lily Braun, their impressive 5-foot-8 senior setter who saved numerous balls from going in the net and chased down errant passes in the back row and turned them into quality sets for her teammates.

Senior libero Catrina Fjerstad supplied two service aces, and juniors Elle Schultz and Kendra Stenzel made one each.

Fjerstad finished the night with five ace serves and Braun tallied four. Six-foot freshman Payton Seuss had two.

At times Seuss and 5-foot-10 senior Samantha McMillin were unstoppable at the net because the Cardinals simply did not get a block up.

Meanwhile Seuss was blocking a lot of the Cardinal hits, and it did appear to affect their attack. Often, Bethlehem Academy would tip the ball or push it right into the block.

Kasson-Mantorville was picking up everything the Cardinals were giving them over the net and for some reason Bethlehem Academy was throwing a lot of soft stuff their way.

Generally in volleyball the more aggressive team wins, and without a doubt the Komets were the aggressors.

It was tough choosing our Faribault State Farm Agents Tony Langerud and Jason Krohn Faribault players of the match. We went with Nass and Skluzacek for their heroics in the only set the Cardinals won, and Payton Nutter. Even though the junior had an off night hitting she did help keep Bethlehem Academy in the match with some impressive digs and sets of her own.

The Cardinals' next match is Friday at New Richland and Kasson-Mantorville travels to Pine Island on Thursday.