Trojans sweep Eagles

File photo by Travis Rosenau
New Ulm’s Mya Hornick sets the ball during an home volleyball match with Fairmont earlier this season at New Ulm High School.

By Jeff Meder

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM — Worthington swept New Ulm 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 on Friday in a nonconference volleyball match.

It was the ninth consecutive loss for the Eagles after defeating Fairmont on Sept. 12.

“We were really sluggish. The third set, we played much better,” New Ulm head coach Christine Skoglund said. She added that the Eagles have had trouble closing things out.

Despite that sluggishness, the Eagles did have some good digs, sets and returns. They also dived for loose balls. The Trojans countered with powerful serves, good sets of their own and made some strong returns of the ball, which kept the Eagles on their toes.

In the first set, New Ulm held a narrow lead for about one-half of the set. Worthington battled back to regain the lead on three consecutive miscues. An ace by Jayden Spartz increased its lead to 3 points.

Mackenzie Enter tipped the ball to Lauren Schmiesing which cut the Trojan’s lead to 2 points at 15-13.

They answered on back-to-back kills. Natya Khamphan set up Saige Scheepstra for the first one. Kaitlyn Mulder set up Scheepstra on the next rally.

Later, Enter earned a point on a left-handed tip and an ace serve on the next play, but the Trojans scored the final 5 points to take the set.

Worthington made a mistake early in the second set, which meant New Ulm held its final lead of the night at 6-5. The Eagles tried hard to keep up, but Worthington slowly pulled away. Khamphanh set the ball to Spartz for the kill which won the set.

Both sides made adjustments during the third set. They also made adjustments on the fly which led to some competitive rallies and good things for both teams.

Scheepstra tipped the ball over the net with her back turned to the net for Worthington’s 24th point. On the next rally, Khamphanh bumped the ball to Scheepstra, whose kill ended the set and the match.

Enter had five set assists, 10 digs and one block assist. Schmiesing added three kills, three digs and she had two blocks. Makena Meier had three kills and Brooklyn Lewis had eight digs and one block.

New Ulm (1-17, 1-4) will go to Fairmont for a Big South showdown on Tuesday.