By Scott A. Kolb
skolb@postbulletin.com
Patience paid off for Lyle/Austin Pacelli volleyball Thursday night in a three-game sweep of Lanesboro.
Lyle/Pacelli looked like a different team from the one that was swept by Lanesboro last week. This time it was the L/P girls coming away with the Southeast Conference win by scores of 25-15, 25-20, 25-23 at the Pacelli Gym in Austin.
After winning rather handily in the opener, the home team would face a stiff test from the visitors over the next two games. L/P trailed early in both of the second and third games, but the team played steady and rallied each time.
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"We took charge in the first game and it was nice to see after the way they beat us down there," L/P co-coach Carl Ellis said. "We had a little trouble with the serve receive in those last two games, but the girls stayed relaxed and rallied. They've learned how to comeback from early deficits."
In the second game, the Lanesboro Burros took the early lead on the left-handed serving of Hannah Glor. The Lanesboro lead would grow to 9-5 after a kill by Bonnie Albright.
Kelli Rogers then got a kill and started the L/P girls on the comeback trail. A kill from Chelsey Roberts and another spike from Roberts brought L/P to within 10-9. Anna Bergstrom continued the rally with four straight service winners and L/P led 13-10.
Megan Norstad later served the Burros back into contention and a 20-20 tie. After that Karina Golberg and Nina Hollerud took over for L/P. Golberg had a pair of aces while serving in the last five winners. Hollerud finished the game with a smash for a 2-0 lead.
"That left-handed middle hitter from Lanesboro was tough to block," Ellis said. "Our girls overcame that by making some nice passes. It was a fun match."
What made it even more fun for the L/P players was the way everybody on the team chipped in. The biggest contribution off the bench came from the designated servers.
Laura Enstad connected on 10 of 12 serves for five points and four aces. Jessica Snyder gave her team a big lift from the service line, hitting on 14 of 15 attempts for nine points and a trio of aces.
Snyder started off the final game with a service ace and got L/P rolling to the sweep. Snyder was a key figure throughout the third game as her serves continually quelled uprisings by the Burros.
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"I work a lot on one thing and it makes it easier to concentrate when I come into the game," Snyder said. "It's exciting to come in and serve winners to give us the lead. It really pumps you up to fire an ace at the start of a game."
Not only did she fire an ace to get L/P the early lead, but Snyder was there to serve her team back ahead after the Burros rallied. It was tied at 21-all, when Snyder hit a service winner, aided by a kill from Lindsay Halbach. This spurred L/P on to a close win.
Statistics for L/P were: Rogers 10 kills, 3 digs; Roberts 8 set assists, 3 blocks, 3 digs; Golberg 4 kills, 5 blocks; Hollerud 15 set assists, 3 kills, 2 blocks; Halbach 10 kills, 5 digs; Bergstrom 2 blocks, 3 kills, 2 ace serves.
"This was our fourth realignment of the serve receive in a month and we finally seem to have found something that works," L/P co-coach Norm Blaser concluded. "We still have to make the right set to the right hitter, but the girls are playing a lot better."
L/P volleyball (14-10, 9-4) plays at the Cannon Falls Invitational on Saturday.
