WCA volleyball records two conference wins

Sam Peterson

Grant County Herald

The WCA volleyball team was coming off two straight losses, including a 3-0 sweep in their conference opener against Sauk Centre. The Knights showed heart by bouncing back with a pair of sweeps. First, the team was on the road against Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Sept. 3 and secured the 3-0 win. Two days later, the Knights picked up their second sweep at home against Benson to improve to 5-2 on the season.

WCA 3

MACA 0

It was a bit of a rocky start against the Tigers for WCA, but once they got into the match they were able to complete the sweep over their conference opponent. 

WCA played from in front for most of the first set, but could never gain much of an advantage or go on any big runs. The Tigers kept battling and were able to tie the match at 20-20. The Knights were able to outscore MACA 5-3 to record a close 25-22 win in the first.

That choppy start was put in the rearview mirror for WCA and they came out of the gates hot in the second set, jumping out to a commanding 18-7 lead. The Tigers got as close as three points, but WCA still managed a comfortable 25-16 win to secure the easy 25-16 win.

In the third, the Knights were in front for the entire set, but had trouble putting the Tigers away early. Over the course of the third, the lead methodically grew for WCA and they completed the sweep with a 25-17 win.

The Knights finished the game with two players in double figures for kills. Mya Foslien led the team with 14 kills and Wylie McNally chipped in with 10. Izzy Puchalski and Jaclynn Nelson both added five kills, Madi Fagre had four and Brinley Ulrich tallied two. Macy Grosz set up the majority of those kills and led the Knights with 34 set assists. 

At the service line, WCA finished the match with six aces as a team. Puchalski led the team with three, Grosz added two and McNally ended with one.

On defense, Grosz led the team with 22 digs, Fagre recorded 15, McNally added 14, Puchalski had 12, Foslien dug out 10, and Sophie Sanstead finished with nine. At the net, Puchalski recorded the team’s only block of the match. 

WCA 3

Benson 0

Back on their home floor, the WCA volleyball team earned their second straight sweep over a WCC opponent when they took down the Benson Braves 3-0.

The first set of the game got out of hand quickly. Thanks to a nine-point service run from Puchalski, the Knights cruised their way to a 25-8 victory.

In the second set, Benson held a brief lead, but the Knights took a 10-7 lead off a six-point service run from Sanstead. Benson was not able to end the WCA run and the Knights went up 2-0 with a 25-14 win in the second.

The Knights jumped out to another early lead in the third set at 17-9. Benson was able to get the lead down to six points, but ran out of gas, giving WCA a 25-17 win to complete the sweep.

Offensively, Mya Foslien led the team with 16 kills. Fagre chipped in with nine kills, Puchalski had six and Keira Gehrke ended with five. Grosz was dishing to her teammates, finishing the game with 35 set assists. 

At the service line, WCA finished with six aces as a team. Sanstead led the team with three aces and Grosz, Puchalski, and McNally each added one.

On defense, the Knights had two players with double-digit digs. Puchalski led the team with 18 digs and Mya Foslien added 14. Sanstead finished with nine digs, Fagre and Gehrke added six, and Grosz dug out five. At the net, Puchalski paced the team with two blocks and Fagre, Mya Foslien, and Grosz each had one.

The team was back on the floor for a road game against Montevideo Sept. 10. The next game on the schedule will be at home against Melrose on Thursday, Sept 12.