UNDERWOOD, Iowa — Underwood’s volleyball team began its season opener with a flourish. St. Albert ended the match in similar fashion.

The Saintes defeated Underwood 25-22, 25-15, 25-18 Tuesday night in a clash of schools that reached a regional final in their respective classes last fall. But the Eagles graduated eight seniors from that team and return just one letterwinner.

Underwood rolled out an entirely new starting lineup Tuesday. Its inexperience showed, as the Eagles faded down the stretch of each game.

“A lot of them had the nerves, not having played varsity before, so I was pleased with how they did,” said Underwood coach Paula Carman, who is beginning the first year of her second stint at the school. “But the bottom line is we played to point 15 tonight. There was something about that we shut down at point 15 and we couldn’t get over that hump.”

Underwood (0-1) held a 15-11 edge in the first game, but the Saintes (5-4) took 11 of the next 13 points. The teams eventually deadlocked at 22 apiece, but sophomore Katie Kuck blasted two of her match-high 13 kills and freshman Kylie Ferguson collected a service ace.

In the second game, the Eagles led 14-13 but let 12 of the final 13 points slip away, including the final nine. They trailed 17-15 in the final set, but St. Albert responded with a 6-0 run that sealed the win.

Like their counterparts, the Saintes boast plenty of new faces after sending off six seniors. But the big difference Tuesday was that they already had eight matches under their belts, including a second-place showing at an eight-team tournament in Clarinda, Iowa, last weekend.

“(Underwood) is young this year, and they’re just trying to find the right combination,” St. Albert coach Angie Lantz said. “For both teams, it’s completely different. You look at last year’s two teams out here, and then this year it’s like, ‘Wow, what happened.’ But graduation does that. It’s a brand new year and we do what we can.”

Fifteen service aces — including five each from junior libero Katie Herrington and Kuck — helped the Saintes’ cause. So too did a balanced attack that had five players earn multiple kill totals.

Junior Amy Lintner led Underwood with six kills.

Kuck said the teams’ rivalry is alive and well despite the player turnover. With so many girls knowing each other from club competition, Kuck said, many of the Saintes have dubbed Underwood “our favorite blue team.”

It also made the victory among the sweeter ones for St. Albert this season.

“We knew Underwood and we knew we wanted to beat them and be loud,” Kuck said.

“The past couple matches we’ve been overly energetic and it’s worked a lot. We decided to bring that out tonight again.”

St. Albert (5-4)...................25 25 25

Underwood (0-1).........................22 15 18

SA (kills-aces-blocks): Katie Herrington 0-5-0, Natalie Pace 0-1-0, Kylie Ferguson 8-1-0, Katie Kuck 13-5-0, Karissa Herrington 2-0-1, Nevada Meis 5-0-1, Alli Johnson 1-3-0, Catie Faust 3-0-0.

U: Kirsten Anderson 3-1-0, Emily Vandivort 4-0-1, Anna Schwery 1-0-0, Chelsie Hardesty 4-1-1, Amy Lintner 6-2-0, Allie Meyer 3-0-2, Cassie Cooper 0-0-0, McKinsey Rodenburg 0-0-0.

Set assists: SA, Johson 24, Ferguson 1, Karissa Herrington 1, Kuck 2; U, Cooper 10, Rodenburg 7, Vandivort 1, Schwery 1.

« High Schools

Share