MANKATO — While the Mankato Loyola volleyball team hasn’t had the season they envisioned, Monday night’s 25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 25-18 nonconference loss to Le Sueur-Henderson at the Fitzgerald gym was encouraging nonetheless.
Loyola’s scrappy defensive play and solid offensive attacking made things interesting before the Giants (14-14) overcame 14 service errors to finish things off. Senior outside hitter Bailey Lehman smacked 16 kills for the winners, while senior right-side hitter Riley Sater recorded 10 ace hits and sophomore middle hitter Victoria Hutton tallied eight kills and four ace blocks.
Loyola (2-20) jumped out to an 8-1 lead in Set 1 behind senior Sammy Kann’s six-point service run that featured four kills from sophomore middle hitter Aryah Zuehlke. After Kann’s back-line kills put the Crusaders in front 13-8, Hutton’s six-point service run — sparked by Lehman’s three kills — put the Giants ahead.
Trailing 21-16, the resilient Crusaders charged back to take a 23-22 lead on a trio of winners from sophomore outside hitter Olivia Templin.
After a defensive gem enabled the Giants to tie things at 23, Marneejae Mostaghimi’s ace serve along with Hudson’s ace block ended things.
“This was our last game for us seniors, and we came out and played with a lot of energy,” said Kann, who finished with seven kills, 14 assists and 16 digs. “I am very proud of the way our team stepped up when our libero (Gabby Bemmels) went down. They’ve got some strong hitters, but I thought we adjusted pretty well for the most part. They exploited some of our bad habits.
“We were reading off the block and finding the holes. Our blocking was there and were able to get the ball up off the block. Olivia was hitting the lines the whole game and we had a freshman middle come in (Lea Taylor) in the second game to help us get their defense out of system.”
Trailing 18-12 in Game 2, the Crusaders rallied for a 25-22 triumph behind freshman setter Bella Giefer’s six-point service run and four kills from Templin. Giefer, who also had 14 assists, fired an ace serve to close things out. Templin pounded 13 kills for the Crusaders, who also received seven kills from Zuehlke and five from Taylor.
“We went into the match looking to get a win for our three seniors,” Templin said. “I thought our communication was really good and our hitters were swinging a lot. I felt I had a good night. The line was open so I took advantage of that a lot. Our three seniors are a huge part of our team so it will be tough without them but we’ll survive. … We played with more passion tonight.”
LSH shot out to a 10-2 lead in Set 3 before the Crusaders trimmed the margin to 20-15 on a Kann block. Bemmels left the game at that point, and Sater’s blast of a block began a final 5-0 surge. The Giants then controlled the final game behind five kills from Lehman.
“Our kids really came out to battle,” Loyola coach Erica Swanson said. “We didn’t play timid and we’ve been trying to come out of that all year. Our serve receive was good and we were able to move the ball around. Our attitude and energy was great tonight. …. They came to play.”