Kenyon-Wanamingo Balance Impressive in Sweep of Stewartville

I have been calling volleyball matches in the Kenyon-Wanamingo area for nearly 30 years and don't recall a sweep of Stewartville.

The Knights were incredibly balanced in their offensive attack against the Tigers in the Castle on Thursday night while winning by scores of 25-15, 25-21 and 25-15.

The balance has been a key all season for Kenyon-Wanamingo, but even Stewartville head coach John Dzubay said after the match the offensive firepower makes the Knights a special team. That's why they are rated No. 1 in Class 2A.

Stewartville was rated No. 7 in the latest Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

Unofficially, I had senior Mara Quam with 12 kills, and senior Megan Flom, junior Corynne Dahl and freshman Ally Peterson with nine kills each.

Everybody played well, so choosing our Knights of the Match courtesy of the Sviggum Insurance Agency in Wanamingo was not easy. You can pretty much count on seniors Mara Quam and Megan Flom to be among the leading attackers every time out, so we chose senior libero Kasey Dummer, junior middle hitter Corynne Dahl, freshman outside hitter Ally Peterson, and setters senior Mia Peterson and junior Maddie McCauley.

Of the matches I've broadcast this season, McCauley looked her best setting. Ally Peterson set the tone in the first set when she cranked five kills in efficient fashion and Corynne Dahl had four kills.

The Knights jumped out to a 4-1 lead and saw Stewartville race back to make it 7-7 and then take a lead themselves. Kenyon-Wanamingo didn't get rattled though and seemed to take their game to another level.

The Knights jumped out to what appeared to be a comfortable lead early in the second set only to see Stewartville come storming back. It was tied at 20 and Kenyon-Wanamingo closed the set on a smoking hot kill off the arm of Mara Quam.

Quam also ended set three on a exclamation point kill to the opponent attack line.

With the victory, Kenyon-Wanamingo remained unbeaten in the HVL (6-0) and are now 22-1 overall. Stewartville falls to 5-1 in conference play and 8-5 overall.

The Tigers had a four-match winning streak snapped and came into the night winners of eight of their previous nine matches.

The Knights are at Pine Island on Tuesday and host Lake City on Thursday while Stewartville hosts Zumbrota-Mazeppa on Tuesday and heads to Triton on Thursday.

I asked Kenyon-Wanamingo head coach Jen Nerison if her team might be peaking too soon and she said her team can still play much better.

The concession stand in the Castle on Thursday night featured baked potatoes with ham and cheese toppings and it was baked to perfection. Yummy.