Molly Wegner receives a serve and passes the ball to the setter to begin the offensive attack. The Rebels lost 3-2 to Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman in the opening game of the Section 2A playoffs last Tuesday.

The No. 8-seeded United South Central Rebels volley ball team hosted the No. 9-seeded Jaguars of Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman last Monday night, Oct. 24, in the opening round of the Section 2A Volleyball Tournament.

And, while the Rebels were able to build up a 2-1 lead, it was the Jaguars who came away with the 3-2 win and the opportunity to advance in the tournament.

The set scores were 18-25, 25-23, 13-25, 25-17, 15-11.

“This was a tough loss to swallow, but you have to credit ML/GHEC/T for making the plays when they needed to in order to win a pressure-packed match,” Rebels coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “I thought our kids battled and put themselves in a position to win, we just couldn’t get the job done when it counted. When we passed the ball in serve receive, we had success all night, that just went away at points in sets two and four which made us much easier to defend.”

Kendal Harpestad and Kiera Schultz led the Rebels with 10 kills apiece. Harpestad also had 17 digs and two aces, while Schultz had eight digs, three blocks and three aces.

Madison Passer and Chloe Lutteke each had eight kills. Lutteke also had five digs, two blocks and two aces, while Passer had two digs.

Mariah Anderson had two kills and three digs and Eleny Korn had 33 assists, three digs and two aces.

“Anytime you’re on the losing end to finish a season, it’s disappointing, but I want to thank our seniors (Ally, Jade, Paige, and Molly) for the dynamic they’ve provided our team all season long,” the coach added. “They’ve been a fun group to have over the years and we’ll certainly miss them next fall.”

ML/GHEC/T advanced to take on No. 1 Cleveland at Cleveland High School on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. in the South Sub-Section 2A Quarterfinals.

The USC Rebels ended their season with a 6-21 record, 0-11 in the Gopher Conference.

Regular season wrap up

The United South Central Rebels’ volleyball team finished the regular season with a 6-20 record, and they were 0-11 in Gopher Conference play.

Here is a wrap up of their last four matches of the season.

JWP 3, USC 1

The Rebels played against the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs on Tuesday, Oct. 18. USC lost the match 3-1, with the set scores 19-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-19.

Kendal Harpestad led the team with 13 kills, nine digs and two blocks. Madison Passer had 10 kills, two digs and one ace. Kiera Schultz had seven kills, 13 digs, three blocks, two aces and five assists.

In addition, Chloe Lutteke had two kills, three digs, one block and one ace, Mariah Anderson added two kills and a dig, Eleny Korn had 24 assists and one dig and Molly Wegner had six digs and one ace.

Hayfield 3, USC 0

The Rebels fell to the Hayfield Vikings 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 14. Scores were 25-15, 25-20, 25-15.

Madison Passer led the team with nine kills, two digs and two blocks. Kendall Harpestad added five kills, five digs, two blocks and an ace. Kiera Schultz had three kills, four digs, six blocks and one assist.

Eleny Korn had 16 assists and five digs, Molly Wegner added five digs and an ace and Chloe Lutteke had two digs, one block and four aces.

Blooming Prairie 3,

USC 0

The Rebels faced Blooming Prairie on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and lost 3-0. Scores were 25-12, 25-10, 25-7.

Kiera Schultz had five kills, five digs and one block for USC. Kendal Harpestad had four kills, four digs and an ace. Chloe Lutteke, Liz Meyer, Madison Passer and Macy Sonnek all had one kill.

Molly Wegner had six assists and three digs and Eleny Korn had five assists and one dig.

Alden-Conger 3, USC 0

The USC Rebels played Alden-Conger on Monday, Oct. 10, and lost 3-0. The scores were 25-15, 25-16, 25-5.

Kendal Harpestad led the team with seven kills, one dig, two blocks and one ace. Kiera Schultz had three kills, six digs and four blocks.

Chloe Lutteke had one kill, five digs and two blocks while Madison Passer added one kill and four digs.

Molly Wegner had seven assists, seven digs and one ace and Eleny Korn had four assists and one dig. Mariah Anderson added seven digs.