SLETTUM CELEBRATES 100TH CAREER SET IN LOSS AGAINST SWMN CHRISTIAN

The Murray County Central Rebels were back in volleyball action against the Southwest Minnesota Christian Eagles last Thursday evening.

The anticipation of playing good conference competition was only overshadowed by a milestone set by setter Kate Slettum as she dished out her 1000th set assist of her high school volleyball career. Congratulations Kate!

In the opening set of the night, the Rebels kept pace with the Eagles. Setter Kelli Miller connected with Kate Blankenship and Kate Slettum to take an early lead. Unfortunately, midway through the rotation, SWMC took advantage of Rebel errors and didn’t look back. The visiting Eagles secured the first set, 25-17.

MCC’s early rotation proved to be their strongest as they took an early lead, but it was unsustainable against the Eagles offense. Youngest teammate, Suttyn Schryvers made her first varsity appearance and was able to contain big game jitters quite quickly. She showed signs of progress in the defensive game as well as the attack, but the Rebels fell in set two, 18-25.

Rebels coaches stayed with the line up choice and the team picked up where game two left off. In this hard fought game, MCC minimized the errors and fought for each point. SWMC was able to put a little breathing room in the score, taking advantage of a couple shots wide and long by the host team. There was still a lot of game left at this point and the tenacious serving of Blankenship tied the game at 13.

Southwest MN Christian was tagged with a couple of contested ball-handling errors that pushed the momentum back to the home team. MCC maintained a comfortable lead and pushed the match to a fourth set, winning 25-18.

MCC was not able to sustain the previous level of play into game four. The Eagles stayed aggressive at the service line and kept Rebels players on their heels, as they were unable to control the ball. SWMC took the match, winning set four, 25-12.

Game Leaders:

Blankenship: 11 points, 2 aces; 7 Kills; 11 Digs Slettum: 9 Kills, 10 Digs, 14 Assists Abby Loosbrock: 3 Ace Blocks, 7 Kills Kelli Miller: 15 Assists, 11 Digs Emmi Peltola: 14 Digs MCC’s C and B squad continue to improve their records. The B team, headed by Peyton DeGreeff (5 Kills, 2 Blocks, 1 Ace) defeated SWMC in three sets, 25-5, 25-21, 15-10 and the C squad, lead by Kat Miller (4 Aces, 6 Kills, 1 Block) by scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 2624.