College Volleyball: Lady Warriors scrape bottom; start recovery

WILLMAR -- Ridgewater College got just the challenge it needed when it pulled an upper division JUCO and three senior college JV teams into the fold of its two-day invite.

The Lady Warriors, who came in 7-1 and No. 1-ranked in NJCAA DIII, went 1-3.

North Dakota State College of Science, which whipped the Willmar college 3-1 on Friday is playing at a high level, perhaps the Wildcats best squad in recent years. St. Thomas JV, which tipped the Warriors 3-2, also on Friday, is coming from one of the top programs in the MIAC.

Ridgewater lost to Jamestown (ND) JV 3-0 and beat Bethel JV 3-0 on Saturday.

Coach Joe Sussenguth didn't care at all for the losses ("We hit rock bottom"), but he added that the rocky weekend got a few issues ironed out.

"This weekend was an opportunity to play against established, high-quality programs," he stated. "Sometimes, a team needs to hit rock bottom to find out who we don't want to be.

"We learned where that place is. Our win against Bethel JV was the first step to recreate ourselves. I'm looking forward to practice this week and moving into the second half of conference play."

Ridgewater's Kelsey Stommes had 42 kills and Alex Horton put away another 24 in the 12 games.

The Lady Warriors host Anoka-Ramsey in a MCAC Southern Division match on Wednesday starting at 6:30 p.m.

Ridgewater scores

Lost to North Dakota State College of Science 22-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-14

Lost to St. Thomas JV 25-17, 19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12

Lost to Jamestown JV 25-20, 25-19, 25-15

Def. Bethel JV 25-17, 25-16, 25-8

Ridgewater College

(Key: good-attempts-aces)

Serving: Taylor Schellbach 14-14-0, Emma Sharpe 25-28-2, Tiffani Karbo 55-59-6, Alex Horton 40-52-9, Kelci Viesselman 24-33-8, Wilner 5-5-0, Taylor Sharpe 27-29-1, Morgan Meyer 12-14-0, Kelsey Stommes 7-8-0, Katie Knisley 1-4-0, Kandace Taylor 8-14-0, Cassie Ziemer 7-7-1, Alicia Koenen 10-10-1 ... Setting (assists): Karbo 109, Wilner 2, Kandace Taylor 1 ... Hitting: Taylor 47-53-8, Taylor Sharpe 6-7-1, E. Sharpe 2-2-1, Morgan Meyer 14-16-2, Karbo 23-25-10, Kelsey Stommes 106-128-42, Katie Knisley 23-23-6, Brittany Nissen 65-82-14, Alex Horton 88-101-24, Viesselman 26-29-4, Cassie Ziemer 10-10-5, Koenen 18-19-5 ... Blocking (aces): Taylor 6, Nissen 2, Stommes 10, Karbo 4, Horton 2 ... Digs: Taylor 5, Wilner 7, Schellbach 2, E. Sharpe 29, Taylor Sharpe 53, Meyer 12, Karbo 17, Knisley 11, Horton 20, Ziemer 2, Viesselman 19, Stommes 5, Nissen 5, Koenen 14