The Grand Meadow Superlarks had no answer to the big serves of Lyle/Pacelli Tuesday night.

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

The Grand Meadow Superlarks had no answer to the big serves of Lyle/Pacelli Tuesday night. The result – a three-game sweep, 15-7, 15-7, 15-4 for the Lions and an outright Southeast Conference championship in the West Division for L/P. The title is the first by either school in their respective volleyball history. L/P finishes the regular season with a 19-7 mark, 7-1 in the Southeast Conference.

"They serve very well," Grand Meadow (6-14, 3-5) coach Dawn Baudoin said. "Our passing was off but you have to give credit to them. They came out and played strong. They wanted the conference title alone. When we played in Grand Meadow we had a good serve receive to keep us in the match. Tonight it wasn’t there. We also had some trouble serving."

L/P was 64-of-69 serving for the match. Melissa Ehret had the most mistakes, missing three of her 17 serves. But she also was the most overpowering with eight ace serves and 12 service points.

"Melissa was trying to spot the back line at the start but missed a couple of times," L/P co-coach Carl Ellis said. "She thought of taking a little off, but we told her not to take anything off the serve and it worked well."

Sophomore Laura Nelson was the second most powerful server with five aces; she was 9-of-10 serving. Nicole Emiliusen was 10-of-11 with nine service points. Amy Bickler was 12-of-12 with seven service points; Jessie Schnieder was 11-of-11 also with seven service points and senior Laura Nelson was 8-of-8 with five service points.

Ehret was the leader in kills digs with eight and 12 respectively. Nelson (soph.) was second in both categories – six kills, 10 digs – and she also had two ace blocks. Kassie Baldner and Joan Sheedy each had five kills. Baldner had seven digs an Sheedy two ace blocks.

The first half of the first game was a close affair. It was tied up 7-7. Every L/P server through the next rotation got a least one service point. Ehret and Bickler each scored aces. Ehret also had a couple of big kills. Nelson (senior) scored the final point of the game when the Superlarks couldn’t get her serve back over the net within three hits.

The last tie in Game Two came a little earlier at 3-3. L/P took command at 9-3 on a Baldner kill. Nelson (soph.) got L/P to game point on an ace serve and then scored point 15 with an over ball that was unreturnable.

Game three was only tied at zero. L/P scored the first eight points of the game. The first five were on Ehret’s serve. She scored three aces on the run. Grand Meadow then scored four straight points. Adrienne Sween made a nice ace block for one point and setter Lisa Skifter scored another with a quick tip. L/P then reeled off the final seven points of the evening. The ultimate coming from L/P setter Bickler on her own quick tip.

"We played about as well as we have all year," Ellis said.

"The best thing about this match," co-coach Norm Blaser said, "is that it dropped all questions of are we ready for the playoffs. It all came together tonight. It was a nice night."

Over the next two days Grand Meadow and L/P will find out where they will be seeded in their respective Class 1A sub-sections. Grand Meadow is in the East where Mabel-Canton and Lanesboro look to be the top two teams with LeRoy-Ostrander as dark-horse candidate for a top seed. L/P is in the West where Bethlehem Academy should be number one with Alden Conger, L/P, and the Minnesota Academy of the Death vying for the second spot and the chance to host the first two rounds of the tournament.