By John George
The Eagle volleyball team returned to New York Mills for the first time in nearly two weeks and gave the home crowd something to cheer about with a 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13) win over Pillager last Thursday.
"It was nice to get another conference win under our belts," said head coach Amy Koskela.
Mills was especially solid on the service line. Emily Salo led the way with five of the team's 18 aces. Kim Erickson, filling in for the injured Bobbi Smith, added four aces to go with a pair of kills and one block.
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Smith suffered a severe high sprain to her right ankle last week in practice. She is expected to miss two weeks. Betsy Helmeke will slide over to middle hitter to replace Smith as Erickson takes Helmeke's spot as outside hitter.
Hannah Rutten led the Eagles with 12 kills and four blocks. Nicole Nebosis added four kills, three blocks and one ace.
1-2 at B-H Tournament.
New York Mills won their first match at the Bertha-Hewitt Tournament on Saturday, then dropped their last two. The Eagles opened with a 2-0 win over Verndale (25-23, 25-22), then lost to Pelican Rapids 2-0 (25-15, 25-6) and to Ashby (25-21, 25-19).
Brandon-Evansville went 5-0 at the tournament, including two wins over the host team, to take 1st place.
Verndale gets revenge
The Eagles had a rematch with Verndale on Tuesday night at the Sports Center. The Pirates avenged two earlier losses against NY Mills with a 3-1 win (20-25, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24).
Mills had beaten Verndale 3-1 last month and 2-0 at the Bertha-Hewitt Tournament last weekend.
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Morgan Kahilainen had three aces and three blocks for the Eagles. Rutten had eight kills and seven blocks.
Final road trips
The Lady Eagles will hit the road for a pair of matches in the coming week. They will head to Menahga tonight (Oct. 4). NY Mills beat the Braves (5-7, 2-2 Park Region) at their home tournament earlier this season, 2-0. The Eagles play their final regular season road game Oct. 9 at Browerville (3-15, 1-5 Prairie Conference).
Thursday, September 27
New York Mills 3, Pillager 1
(25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 25-13)
Eagles--(Kills, Aces, Blocks)--Hannah Rutten (12-0-4), Betsy Helmeke (5-2-0), Betsy Bernu (4-2-1), Nicole Nebosis (4-1-3), Kim Erickson (2-4-1), Morgan Kahilainen (0-3-0), Aynsley Novak (0-1-0), Emily Salo (0-5-0).
Saturday, September 29
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Bertha-Hewitt Tournament
New York Mills 2, Verndale 0
(25-23, 25-22)
Pelican Rapids 2, New York Mills 0
(25-15, 25-6)
Ashby 2, New York Mills 0
(25-21, 25-19)
Tuesday, October 2
Verndale 3, New York Mills 1
(20-25, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24)
Eagles--(Kills-Aces-Blocks)--Kahilainen (0-3-3), Helmeke (3-1-1), Bernu (4-1-2), Rutten (8-0-7), Nebosis (2-2-0), Salo (0-1-0), Erickson (3-1-0).
Park Region Conf. All
Sebeka 3-0 9-5
Bertha-Hewitt 3-0 11-9
Henning 3-1 5-5
Menahga 2-2 5-8
New York Mills 2-3 8-12-1
Verndale 2-5 5-12
Pillager 0-4 2-15
