Friday, November 03, 2000

Untitled Document

Lyle-Pacelli wins subsection championship

By JASON FELDMAN

Austin Daily Herald

ROCHESTER – It was easy for Lyle-Pacelli volleyball co-coach Carl Ellis to smile after the team’s match here Thursday night.

"I reallly felt good about this match coming in," Ellis said. "I knew it’d be tough, but I felt good about our chances."

L/P co-coach Norm Blaser wasn’t quite as comfortable during the match, which L/P won 15-5, 15-9, 10-15, 16-14 over Faribault Bethlehem Academy to bring home the first subsection volleyball championship ever for Lyle and Pacelli.

After dominating the first game and most of the second, Faribault BA jumped out to an 8-3 lead went on to win the game on a kill by freshman Betty Slinger.

With the momentum on Faribault’s side, L/P jumped out to a 5-2 lead in game four on two kills by Michelle Mino and one each by Laura Nelson and KKassie Baldner.

L/P extended its lead to 10-3 on a block by Nelson and Baldner, but a kill by Faribault’s Anne Carpentier gave the Cardinals the serve back. Erika Kreichbaum then served four straight points to cut L/P’s lead to 10-7. With the score tied 10-10, a pair of hitting errors by L/P gave BA the lead for the first time in the game at 13-10.

"Faribault adjusted so well in the last two games," L/P senior co-captain Joan Sheedy said. "That’s what good teams do."

Chrissy Kluczny stepped to the service line and gave L/P the lead back for good. BA sent a pass out of bounds and a kill attempt into the net, then Nelson and Cassie Fuller added kills for a 14-13 L/P lead.

BA tied the game again, but an ace block by Nelson sent L/P to the Section 1A final against Mabel-Canton Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Mayo Civic Center.

"I was just trying to block everything that came at us," said Nelson, who finished with 10 kills, nine blocks and 20 digs. "I knew if I could just block the last shot, it’d be over."

"We controlled the first and second games," Blaser said. "We took the lead in the fourth and couldn’t hold it, but one thing our group of girls has is confidence and they came back."

Fuller had a match-high 12 kills and added 18 digs for L/P (27-3), Kluczny finished with 13 digs, Sheedy added eight kills while Baldner and Mino each had five kills.