The United South Central volleyball team got a big win on Tuesday, Sept. 10, when they downed the Panthers of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva in a home match.

USC took the match three sets to one for NRHEG. All of the sets were very close, with USC losing the first set, and having to score 30 points in the fourth set to secure the win.

Scores were 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 30-28.

“Exciting win for our kids and always great to get a Gopher conference W,” coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “They showed a lot of maturity to play steady in some tense moments to gut out the victory, and that hasn’t always been the case.”

Madison Passer led the team with 17 kills, 16 digs and one block. Chloe Bullerman had nine kills, one dig, four blocks and two aces. Alivia Bruegger added seven kills and 10 digs.

“Our serve receive and defense was solid for the majority of the night putting the ball on our setter so we had options offensively and it really helped us keep NRHEG off balance,” the coach explained.

Karly Koehler had 30 digs, four aces and two assists. Eleny Korn had 34 assists, six digs and one ace.

“Karly Koehler was stellar in the back row reading their hitters and putting our offense in motion on that first touch,” the Rebels mentor added. “Eleny Korn made good decisions with the second touch and put our hitters in positions to be successful, and Madison Passer and Alivia Bruegger were effective from the outside at exposing holes in the NRHEG defense.”

Hannah Warmka added three kills and three blocks, Jaelyn Stangler had three kills and six blocks, Presley Brandenburg had five digs, two assists and one ace and Lillyan Lutteke had two digs.

“This group is starting to put it together and we look forward to another opportunity to take the floor against a talented team Thursday up at Randolph,” the coach added.

USC is now 2-3 (1-1 Gopher Conference).

St. Clair 3, USC 0

The United South Central Rebels just could not get over the hurdle and ended up losing 3-0 to the St. Clair Cyclones on Monday, Sept. 9.

The scores of the three sets were 25-19, 25-18, 25-21.

“We just couldn’t find our mojo tonight, unfortunately,” USC coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “St. Clair played smart, clean volleyball, and we just didn’t respond on our side of the net.”

Madison Passer had 12 kills, five digs and one ace to lead the Rebels.

“Madison Passer was definitely a bright spot, as she shook some early nerves to turn in a 12 kill, five dig performance where she took some more aggressive swings around the block,” Kuechenmeister added. “We’ll look to get more of that leadership by example out of her going forward as it gives so much confidence to the other girls on our team.”

Chloe Bullerman had eight kills, three digs and five blocks. Jaelyn Stangler had four kills, one dig and one block. Hannah Warmka also had four kills and one block.

Alivia Bruegger had three kills and seven digs, Lillyan Luteke had one kill, Karly Koehler had 16 digs and Presley Brandenburg had three digs.

Eleny Korn had 28 assists and two digs.

Kenyon-Wanamingo 3,

USC 0

The United South Central volleyball team ran into a tough Kenyon-Wanamingo Knights team on Thursday, Sept. 5, and the Rebels lost 3-0.

The first set was real close, with K-W coming out with a 25-23 win. The next two were dominated by the Knights, 25-12, 25-8.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to K-W,” coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “They have a talented, athletic squad who plays fast and hits hard.”

Chloe Bullerman led the Rebels with four kills, one block and one ace. Jaelyn Stangler had two kills and a block.

Eleny Korn had eight assists and five digs. Madison Passer, Alivia Bruegger and Hannah Warmka each had one kill, with Passer adding two digs, one block and one ace, Bruegger two digs and Warmka one block. Karly Koehler had eight digs and one ace.

“I thought our kids competed well in set 1, particularly defensively,” Kuechenmeister added. “We kept a lot of hard hit balls alive and we had opportunities to win down the stretch but just couldn’t put them away. Unfortunately in sets 2 and 3, we struggled in serve receive so we couldn’t muster the offense necessary to go toe-to-toe with a team of K-W’s caliber.”

The coach added that it was a good lesson to learn early in the season. The Rebels next were set to face St. Clair, NRHEG, and Randolph.

This week they go up against Triton at home on Tuesday, Sept. 17, then host a tourney at home on Saturday, Sept. 21.