Norse rally to top Mustangs

Facing elimination after a close loss, the Whitehall volleyball team rallied to win two sets and beat Melrose-Mindoro, 3-2, in a Dairyland Conference match last Thursday.

The first three sets were decided by a total of nine points as Whitehall was one loss from elimination. The next two were also close, but the Norse came out on the winning end of both to get the DC win.

The win put Whitehall at 9-6 overall and 4-1 in Dairyland Conference play. They played at Eleva-Strum on Tuesday and at home against Alma Center Lincoln on Thursday before a nonconference tournament at Osseo-Fairchild on Saturday.

This coming Tuesday, Whitehall heads to Alma-Pepin before taking on Cochrane-Fountain City at home next Thursday.

M-M   25 21 25 22 11

WHS  23 25 22 25 15

The Norse had to dig deep to win a close five-set match and keep pace in the conference standings.

The teams were close throughout the match as the Mustangs won the first set by two points before Whitehall evened the match with a four-point win. Mel-Min seemed to take control with a three-point win in the third to get within one set of winning the match, but the Norse fought to win the fourth by three points and the fifth by four.

The Norse had strong performances at the net from Aryana Ausderau and Olivia Killian. Ausderau led the team with 14 kills, while adding three blocks and Killian had 10 kills and six blocks. Trinity Aasen added nine kills and three blocks while Ashlyn Clatt and Harlow Foss both had seven kills. Hailey Przybilla, Kyla Lambeck and Kelsie Klomsten all added one kill. Lambeck added two blocks and Klomsten had one.

Przybilla and Lambeck split the setting duties as Przybilla had 18 set assists and Lambeck finished with 16. 

Sophia Skoyen, Lambeck and Przybilla all had two aces while Avvia Herman and Brinna Goplin had one. 

Goplin and Lambeck both had 18 digs for the Norse while Foss added 16 and Przybilla had 12.