Chloe Bullerman (10) goes for a kill against the Maple River Eagles on Sept. 14 while teammates Olivia Bird (22) and Kaydra Haugh (2) look on. The Rebels defeated the Eagles 3-2.

The United South Central Rebels’ volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season in a close, hard-fought battle against the Triton Cobras on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The match went to five sets, with Triton winning the first set 26-24, then USC winning the next two sets 25-15, 25-19 for a 2-1 lead.

The Cobras won the fourth set 25-15, tying the match at 2-2 and sending it to the fifth and deciding set. Triton came out on top 15-3 in the fifth set to win the match.

“Great battle tonight with a high-powered Triton team,” coach Joe Kuechenmeister said. “For the first three sets, we played at a high level that was good enough to win the match. Unfortunately our serve and serve receive broke down in sets 4 and 5, and credit Triton for winning the in-system game in the latter parts of the match to run away with it.”

Chloe Bullerman led the Rebels with 17 kills, five blocks and one assist. Alivia Bruegger had 11 kills, eight digs, three blocks and three aces. Reanna Obermeyer had eight kills, two digs and two blocks.

Kaydra Haugh added six kills, two digs and one ace, while Tatum Stangler had two kills, one dig and one assist.

“It was a great eye opener for the kids,” the coach added. “Our good is good enough to compete with some of the best. We’ve just got to find a way to maintain our level throughout the duration of a match, especially when a team the caliber of Triton starts to push back.”

Other stats had Olivia Bird with 12 digs, Presley Brandenburg with four digs, one assist and three aces and Aliza Neitzel with seven digs and one ace. Izzy Bird had 35 assists, two digs and two aces.

“Despite the sour feeling of losing one in reach, we definitely gained some confidence going toe to toe with arguably the best team in the Gopher Conference,” the coach concluded. “We’ll get back to work and be ready for our four tough matches next week.”

Those matches are at St. Clair on Monday, Sept. 21, at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Tuesday, Sept. 21, hosting Medford on Thursday, Sept. 24 and hosting the Rebel Invite on Saturday, Sept. 26.

USC is now 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Gopher Conference. 

USC 3, Maple River 2

It took five sets to get there, but eventually the United South Central Rebels got a 3-2 win against Maple River in volleyball action on Monday, Sept. 14.

The USC Rebels won the first set 25-19, lost the second set 25-15, then won their third set 25-20. However, Maple River took that fourth set in a closely fought 27-25 win.

That tied the match at 2-2 and sent it to a fifth and final set. USC took that fifth set 15-7.

“We struggled to find our mojo tonight, but I was proud of the way the kids gutted out a win. Credit Maple River,” coach Joe Kuehenmeister said. “They played scrappy and didn’t make many errors on their side of the net which kept the pressure on. We struggled to put the ball on our setter through the majority of the match and it felt like we were operating on the wrong side of the 10 foot line which made it hard to score consistently.”

Chloe Bullerman led the way with 21 kills, 11 digs and six blocks. Alivia Bruegger added 13 kills, nine digs, two blocks and one ace.

“Alivia had a big fifth set with a couple of kills and a block to help us extend our lead in the decider,” Kuchenmeister said.

Reanna Obermeyer had seven kills two digs and one block, while Kaydra Haugh had six kills and four digs and Tatum Stangler had three kills and one dig.

“Presley Brandenburg was big for us from behind the service line racking up two aces and keeping Maple River’s serve receive guessing,” the coach said. “Izzy Bird also had a notable performance hustling all over the court and finding her hitters with a winning connection 42 times.”

USC 3, Randolph 1

In a four set battle the United South Central Rebel volleyball team took the win over the Randolph Rockets on Thursday, Sept. 10, in Randolph.

Winning 3-1, the Rebels took the first two sets 25-18, 25-22, but then lost the third set 25-23.

The fourth set was also very close, with USC taking a close 25-22 win to seal the victory.

“Proud of the kids for pulling off a huge road win tonight,” coach Joe Kuechenmesiter said. “Randolph has an athletic team and some kids who hit the ball well, and we didn’t back down from the challenge.”

The coach said he thought the Rebels’ block and defensive pursuit made the difference in turning the tide in their direction in pressure situations.

“We again served well, so it’s huge to see the kids executing that part of our game plan on the first contact. The biggest development we’ve seen this week is the composure and confidence this group is playing with. When faced with adversity, they’re responding and rising to the occasion together and it’s been fun to see them growing up in that area of the game.”

Chloe Bullerman once again led the Rebels, getting 18 kills, eight digs, four blocks, one assist and one ace in the match against the Rockets.

Reanna Obermeyer had eight kills and two digs, while Alivia Bruegger and Tatum Stangler each had seven kills, with Bruegger getting 12 digs, two blocks and four aces, while Stangler had one dig. Kaydra Haugh added four kills, two digs and one ace.

“Chloe had a big night for us with 18 kills, and her block took over late in set 4 to help us close out,” Kuechenmeister said. “Reanna, Tatum, Aliv, and Kaydra mixed big swings with effective off speed to keep the Rockets off balance.”

Olivia Bird had six digs, one assist and three aces, while Presley Brandenburg had five digs. Izzy Bird had 37 assistss, six digs and two aces.

“Olivia, Presley, and Izzy were all over the place defensively, and Izzy did a great job of putting her hitters in a winning position with that second contact,” the coach added. “It was an all-around team win, and fun to see the kids continue to climb the ladder.”

USC is now 3-0 (2-0 Gopher Conference).