The United South Central volleyball team traveled to Faribault to take on the Bethlehem Academy Cardinals on Thursday night, Oct. 6.

While the USC Rebels fought hard in the first two games, playing some of their best volleyball of the season, they could not overcome the talented Cardinals and lost in three sets, 25-19, 25-17, 25-6.

“It was a fun match tonight,” coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “We competed extremely well in the first two sets and produced some of the best volleyball we’ve seen this season.”

The coach said that Bethlehem Academy has some girls who can really hit the ball, but that the Rebels offset that by getting great block touches at the net to slow the ball down and got a scrappy defensive effort by their back row.

“There were a lot of extended, back and forth points, and that’s exactly what you want to see against a team that has had a lot of success,” the Rebels coach said. “On Wednesday, we spent a lot of time working on reading your opponent and anticipating their next move, and it was nice to see some of that transfer over into match play tonight.”

Kiera Schultz led the team with six kills, five digs and six blocks. Madison Passer added five kills and three digs and Kendal Harpestad had four kills, eight digs and one block.

Chloe Lutteke added two kills, five digs and two blocks and Mariah Anderson had one kill, three digs and one assist. Molly Wegner had four digs and one ace. Eleny Korn had 16 assists and one dig.

“If we could find a way to maintain that level heading into the last couple of matches of the season, we could steal a couple and make some noise in the postseason,” Kuechenmeister said. “We’ve just got to stay focused on our side of the net and good things will happen.”

USC is now 6-16 (0-8 Gopher Conference). The Rebels were set to play next on Monday, Oct. 10, at Alden-Conger, Tuesday, Oct. 11 vs. Blooming Prairie at home and Friday, Oct. 14 at Hayfield.

This week they play on Tuesday, Oct. 18, against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at home.