WILLMAR — Facing a squad with just two wins this season, the Willmar volleyball team outclassed its opponent to remain undefeated.
Using spurts to exert their dominance while mixing in their reserve players, the Cardinals improved their record to 10-0 with a 3-0 victory over Rocori on Tuesday.
The set scores were 25-10, 25-12 and 25-11 during the Central Lakes Conference match from the Big Red Gym at Willmar High School..
“We did get a lot of the girls and all the seniors in for some playing time, which was great,” Cardinals head coach Traci Grussing said. “I thought we were a little bit slow to start in the second and third sets. That was an issue, but other than that, when we got the ball to our setter, our offense was fairly unstoppable.”
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The home team went on three separate six-point runs in the opening set; the last featuring a pair of kills from senior hitter Bailey Olson and two ace serves from junior setter Lydia Larson to extend Willmar’s lead to 24-8.
With the second set tied at 8-8, senior right-side hitter Sophie Kobienia helped the Cardinals pull away. She collected a kill and an ace block before capping a 5-0 run with a powerful attack to make it 13-8.
Throughout the night, the force behind Kobienia’s left-handed attacks gave the Spartans fits. As an example, one of the senior’s attacks bounced off the head of an opponent and the ball floated into the stands. Kobienia finished with eight kills.
“It’s really difficult for a team to defend a left-handed hitter on the right side of the court,” Grussing said. “Lydia is pretty good at getting her the ball and Sophie was unstoppable tonight. She’s had some games where she’s made some errors. Tonight, she put everything in play, she attacked everything and hit hard.”
Junior outside hitter Marissa Rosen smashed a free ball at the end of a 7-0 run to close out the second set.
In the third set, Rocori trailed 13-10 before Willmar created a cushion with a 4-0 spurt. After the visitors put a point on the board, the Cardinals finished the match with a 8-0 surge. At 22-10, junior middle hitter Madelyn Knofczynski delivered a kill before senior defensive specialist Ashley Guse put up an ace serve and senior libero Abby Stark produced a dump-off.
Larson led the hosts with 36 assists, nine digs and two ace serves. Stark added a team-high 18 digs. Schnichels put up a Cards-best 12 kills, four ace blocks and six digs. Olson added 10 digs, seven kills and two ace blocks.
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Willmar’s next scheduled match is 7 p.m. Thursday at Sauk Rapids.
