Few questions remained for the Lyle-Pacelli volleyball team after it played an all-around excellent game for a conference victory in four games against Houston Tuesday night in Lyle.

Wednesday, September 01, 1999

Few questions remained for the Lyle-Pacelli volleyball team after it played an all-around excellent game for a conference victory in four games against Houston Tuesday night in Lyle.

The new-look squad made up of Lyle and Pacelli players passed every test the Hurricanes threw at them, winning 15-7, 16-14, 4-15 and 15-13.

The only thing that kept Lyle-Pacelli from sweeping and winning by larger margins was the serves by Houston seniors Leigh Rischette and Michelle Knutson, who was all-conference last year.

"In all my years of coaching I have never seen two girls serve that good," Lyle-Pacelli coach Norm Blaser said. "I don’t know what their names were, but … Jiminy Christmas, they were good."

Blaser said Houston’s serving prowess was reminiscent of his former thorn in the Hiawatha Valley League and perennial volleyball powerhouse, Stewartville.

"Well, (Stewartville) must have been here but in different uniforms," he said. "We’re satisfied with our offense. They were just a good defensive team.

"This was a real positive start," Blaser said. "This gives us a good look at what we needed to work on. We needed a game like this. If we would have won 15-1, 15-3, 15-0 that wouldn’t have helped us.

"We still need to work on our receiving serves."

"I’m very satisfied with the serves," said Houston coach Brenda Ryan. "That’s what hurt us the most last year."

Last year the Hurricanes were 1-15.

Both teams started slow in the first game, but Lyle-Pacelli took control with solid serving and good front-row play by sophomore Laura Nelson. Nelson led Lyle-Pacelli with 10 kills on the night, including two clutch momentum altering blocks to halt runs by Houston in the second game.

With senior Julie Rugg serving, Lyle-Pacelli broke a 1-1 tie and reeled off four more points to take the lead for good. Rugg finished the night going 20-of-22 on serves, including four aces, for 11 points.

Lyle-Pacelli got four more points with Jesse Schnieder serving. Schnieder finished 17-of-18 for serves and scored 11 points.

Lyle-Pacelli’s other top server on the night, Melissa Ehert, closed out the game getting four of the team’s last five points. Ehert, a three-year starter and team leader, finished the night 19-of-21 for 12 points. The senior from Pacelli also contributed five kills and two key digs in the second game.

Amy Bickler had 12 set assists to lead Lyle-Pacelli.

Kassie Baldner slammed the door on any comeback notions to end the game with one of her five kills.

Houston trailed 9-5 in the second game, but eventually came back and led 14-11 at one point.

Lyle-Pacelli got two more points behind Ehert serves and then a crucial block by Nelson put the ball back in Rugg’s hands. Rugg then closed out the game at serve and Baldner had the final kill to end the game again.

"That shows a lot of what we’re about," Blaser said of Lyle-Pacelli’s comeback in the second game.

"It looked like Houston was playing not to lose instead of playing to win," Lyle-Pacelli coach Carl Ellis said. "That was our problem in the third game."

Lyle-Pacelli looked helpless in the third game as Houston quickly shifted the momentum.

Lyle-Pacelli circled the wagons for game four and started out strong behind the serving of Schneider.

The Hurricanes refused to go away though, tying the game up at 13-13.

Other notables for Lyle-Pacelli were: Baldner going 7-of-8 at serves with three aces, Nicole Emiliusen going 6-of-6 while contributing four points on serves and Joni Sheedy with eight kills.

"When we played together in the summer league I knew we would match up well," Nelson said of the early volleyball success for Lyle-Pacelli partnership.

"She had a good serve." Bickler said of Knutson. "After a while, we just got underneath it. I knew we could do this because we had a really good day of practice today."

Lyle-Pacelli will be in action again next Thursday against Southland in Lyle.