'It's all about momentum,"— Coach Hayley Fruin
As much as volleyball is a ‘power’ game, it’s also, “All about momentum,” says Minneota Coach Hayley Fruin.
Case in point. The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights came into Tuesday night’s game against Minneota with “all guns blazin’” or in their case, a Knights Lance pointed right at the defending state champs.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Coach Fruin — and it wasn’t, as Knight Coach Daynica Brown threw all she had at the net and went hit-for-hit, kill-for-kill against Fruin and the Vikings.
But with every blow from the lance, came a counter-punch from the well-balanced Viking arsenal. After a rugged, drag-out first game in which Minneota won, 25-16 — the Knights armor fell off, their reservoir went empty and Minneota won the second game, 25-8 and survived a late surge by RTR to take the final game, 26-24 for a 3-0 sweep.
“It benefitted us to play them this year in Burnsville,” said Coach Fruin about a 2-0 (25-10; 25-19) Viking victory over the Knights in the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse tournament two weeks ago.
Minneota is now 9-0 in the Camden Conference and 20-2 overall. RTR fell off to 7-3 and 13-7 overall.
“They’re a young team. They’re going to be very, very good,” predicted Coach Fruin.
But once the Knights challenged Minneota in the first set, they were hit with a blast of firepower they probably hadn’t seen all year.
A trio of hitters, Natalee Rolbiecki (11 kills), Abby Hennen (10 kills) and Morgan Hennen (9 kills) brought an assault on the Knights kingdom that would make any castle shake — and the Knights just couldn’t handle it.
“Natalee had quite a night, and Abby (Hennen) and Morgan (Hennen) plus Abby Frie (5 kills and three blocks) hammered the ball. We used all our hitters to get to the end (result),” said Coach Fruin.
All year the Vikings have tossed a variety of hitters at opponents. “We give the ball to anybody — we feel comfortable with all of them,” the coach added.
While RTR got six kills from junior Haley Muenchow and good outside hitting from senior Rylie Hess, they found most of their hard hits were coming right back at them.
Minneota countered with 11 blocks for points and used the prolific back court duo of Ellie Pesch and McKenzie Tolk to counter the Knights punches.
Both back court specialists drew high praise from Coach Fruin. McKenzie Tolk frustrates opposing players, even in practice. We’re glad she’s on our side,” the coach joked. As for Pesch, “She did some job digging the ball,” the coach added.
Although the injured Ireland Stassen was back on the court after missing games with an ankle injury, most of the setting fell to sophomore McKenna Yost. And she delivered with 33 assists.
Also added to the Viking mix is junior Abby Rost, who has been patrolling the net and protecting her territory.
The only kink for the Vikings came when Fruin emptied her bench late in the third game and RTR roared back to tied the game at 24 apiece with balanced hitting that included Muenchow, Hess Kylea Baartman and Allie Christianson.
Fruin put the starters back in and a final block at the net by Yost gave the game to Minneota, 26-24.
While noting the “team play” her squad possessed, Coach Fruin added, “It’s all about chemistry out there.”
Minneota Stats:
KILLS: Natalee Rolbiecki 11, Abby Hennen 10, Morgan Hennen 9, Abby Frie 5.
SERVING: (No., good, aces) McKenna Yost 15-14-1, Ellie Pesch 12-12-0;,Morgan Hennen 12-11-2.
BLOCKS: Frie, Abby Rost 3 each, Yost, Ireland Stassen 2 each, Abby Hennen 1.
DIGS: Abby Hennen 13, Rolbiecki 10, Yost 7.
SET ASSISTS: Yost 33, Stassen 5. Minneota 3,