SARTELL -- Willmar piled up 16 ace serves and Greta King collected 16 kills, but it wasn't enough as Sartell prevailed 25-17, 28-26, 19-25, 23-25, 17-15 in a Central Lakes Conference marathon Thursday.
The Cardinals (4-4, 6-7) were ahead 15-14 in the last game, but the Sabres (5-3, 8-5) ended the game with three kills to get some revenge. Willmar beat the Sabres in four games last Tuesday in Willmar.
"We played three of our best games of the year, but we couldn't quite finish it," said Willmar coach Mary Hanson. "We are has evenly matched as you can get."
Hannah Smith had six ace serves for the Cardinals, with King following with four and Annalise Bratt three. Emily Nelsen trailed only King with 10 kills and also had three ace blocks, as did Jena Thompson.
"It was a back-and-forth battle," said Hanson. "It ended up that they just had the ball last."
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Willmar is at St. Cloud Apollo on Monday in a make-up from last Thursday due to a tornado warning.
Sartell 3, Willmar 2
Willmar 17 26 25 25 15
Sartell 25 28 19 23 17
(Key: good-attempts-aces)
Willmar
Serving: Annalise Bratt 16-16-3, Megan Brown 14-15-2, Hannah Smith 21-23-6, Greta King 15-16-4, Emily Nelsen 9-11-1, Laurie Buer 16-16-0, Bevin Williams 3-5-0 ... Setting: Smith 24-24-6, King 84-85-22, Buer 40-40-10 ... Hitting: Bratt 18-21-3, Brown 4-4-1, Smith 22-29-8, Kelsey Evans 19-24-8, King 43-45-16, Nelsen 27-32-10, Buer 2-3-1, Williams 7-8-1, Jena Thompson 19-21-2 ... Blocking (aces): Smith 1, Evans 2, King 2, Nelsen 3, Thompson 3 ... Digs: Brittney Hastad 1, Bratt 17, Brown 20, Smith 25, Evans 2, King 10, Nelsen 6, Buer 11, Williams 1, Thompson 5
Sartell
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Serving (aces): Mallory Johannes 4, Steph Tillman 3, Kirsten Uran 2 ... Setting: not available ... Hitting (kills): Johannes 10, Tillman 10, Jenna Flinn 10 ... Blocking (aces): not available ... Digs: not available
