Kiera Schultz, above left, returns a serve while teammate Kendal Harpestad looks on.

The United South Central Rebel volleyball team traveled to Randolph for a Gopher Conference meet on Thursday, Sept. 22.

The Rebels lost in three very close sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20, to the Rockets.

“Despite the loss, we did play better overall tonight,” Rebel coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “I thought our defensive coverage was better, which was good to see because we spent a lot of time correcting some issues on Wednesday in practice. The kids did a better job of managing the ups and the downs of the game as well, which was a positive as that was a focus of ours in our pre-match meeting.”

The USC team was led by Kiera Schultz, who had 10 kills, four digs, three blocks and an ace.

Kendal Harpestad had five kills, two digs and one ace, while Madison Passer had three kills, three digs, one block and one ace.

Chloe Lutteke added two kills, six digs and an ace, Macy Sonnek had one kill, Molly Wegner two digs and two aces and Ally Stenzel had one dig.

Eleny Korn had 18 assists and one dig.

“We made some good adjustments throughout the match, but we just weren’t consistent enough in serve receive down the stretch to keep the pressure on Randolph in the latter part of each set,” coach Kuechenmeister said. “Either way, we’re looking forward to Saturday as we get an opportunity to see six teams that are all fairly evenly matched at our USC Invite. We hope to find success in what should be a good day of Rebel Volleyball.”

USC is now 1-6 (0-4 Gopher Conference) and the Rebels played again Saturday when they hosted the Rebel Volleyball Invite.

They also were set to play Tuesday, Sept. 27, at Kenyon-Wanamingo, Thursday, Sept. 29, against Triton and Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Nicollet Tournament.