South Winn netters earn title at Viking tourney

By Becky Walz,

Momentum was built Saturday for the South Winn volleyball team (15-10, 3-1 UIC) as the Warriors went undefeated and claimed the title at the annual Decorah tournament. The host Vikings (12-7, 3-1 NEIC) went 3-3 on the day.

Champs
The Warriors started the day against Minnesota’s Kingsland, sweeping the Knights in two sets, 21-10 and 21-16. Ivey Franzen had five kills on nine attack attempts, while Ella Theis dished out 14 assists. As a team, South Winn served 35-for-38 with eight ace serves.
Still in pool play, South Winn topped MFL MarMac 2-1 (9-21, 21-12, 15-11). Franzen once again led the Warriors at the net with seven kills. Britney Hageman, Alyssa Holthaus and Bailey Kuennen provided three apiece with Theis handing out 18 assists. Chloe Wiltgen came away with seven digs and went 4-for-4 at the service line. Allison Hageman served 11-for-12.
The big confidence boost came in the final pool play game against the host Vikings. The Warriors dropped game one 16-21 but rebounded in set two, winning 21-16. Set three was a close finish with South Winn victorious 15-12. Franzen and Holthaus got the job done offensively with eight kills apiece with Kuennen hammering down six. Britney Hageman added five. It was a 24 assist game for Theis while Wiltgen and Aubrey Hageman each had seven digs.
Moving into tournament play, the Warriors took two sets from Riceville 21-16 and 21-18 to keep the winning streak alive. As a team, South Winn had 26 kills with 65 attack attempts, led by Franzen with five. Holthaus and Addison Timp pounded down four apiece. Aubrey Hageman went 13-for-13 at the service line with a pair of aces, while Allison Hageman was 9-for-9 with two aces.
Then it was rematch time as South Winn and Decorah squared off once again. This time the Warriors took the match in two, 21-16 and 21-17. Franzen and Kuennen paved the way at the net with four and three kills, respectively. The Warriors had eight total blocks and 27 digs. Theis led the squad with 10 assists and seven digs with a 5-for-6 serving performance. Allison Hageman was 6-for-7 at the service line with two aces to go with six digs.
The title was clinched as the Warriors defeated Jesup in a pair of 21-15 sets. Eleven total blocks and 31 digs aided South Winn in the win to go with 18 kills on 46 attack attempts. Holthaus had a solo block and two assists with two kills and went 7-for-7 at the service line. Britney Hageman had three assisted blocks and two kills, while Wiltgen provided back row support with 10 digs.
“Saturday was a great day mostly because of how we responded from a match that had us all out of sorts. We had a fine start against Kingsland and then were not ready to go against an MFL MarMac team that did a great job taking care of the ball and keeping us out of system. We responded well to win the match in three, and never looked back,” said co-head coach Ethan Adams. “The girls passed extremely well throughout the remainder of the day, and great setting by Ella Theis put our hitters in a good spot to play great offense against strong Decorah and Jesup teams. We had good blocking, especially by our middles, put our defense in position to keep the ball off the floor as well. It was an excellent team effort to win the tournament, and our work at the service line against Decorah and Jesup in the tournament pool was essential to keeping their offense out of system.”

The home team
A scrappy MFL MarMac team started the day for Decorah spikers, who took the first set 21-8 and third set 15-6. The Bulldogs claimed the second set 21-15. The Vikes had 23 kills on 72 attack attempts, led by Kelby Kerndt’s six and Sydney Thompson’s five. Dylin Thompson had seven assists while Savannah O’Reilly provided six. Coming up with a team-high eight digs was Ellie Rolfs with McKinley Massman providing seven. The Vikes were 45-for-51 at the service line.
Decorah had no problem in match two against Kingsland, winning 2-0 (21-14, 21-9). Massman was the hard hitter in the match with eight kills with Dylan Thompson handing out 17 assists. Rolfs once again led the defense with eight digs and went 11-for-12 in serves with two aces.
The Vikings then dropped the final match to South Winn 1-2. Massman was the force at the net with 10 kills while Kelby Kerndt sent down four. The Vikes had 35 digs and served 44-for-50 with eight aces.
Moving into tournament play, Decorah first stood across the net from Jesup. The J-Hawks swept the series 2-0 (21-12, 21-7) from the Vikes. Of Decorah’s 12 kills in the match, Audrey Essa had four, while Massman had three. Sara Johanningmeier and Rolfs came up with four digs each and went 4-for-4 at the serving line.
The second round against the South Winn Warriors went just two sets with the visitors winning 21-16 and 21-17. With three kills, Massman led the Vikes at the net to go with six digs. Johanningmeier was there for eight digs and served 5-for-5.
The day ended back on a high note for Decorah who swept Riceville 2-0 (21-13, 21-17). As a team the Vikes had 22 kills on 56 attack attempts, 21 assists, 33 digs and served 36-for-41. Massman had eight kills, 10 digs and 7-for-9 serving performance. O’Reilly was there for eight digs and served 12-for-12.

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