MANKATO — Junior Claire Huettl’s nine-point service run set the tone Tuesday night as a focused Mankato East volleyball team swept Rochester John Marshall 25-17, 25-21, 25-14 in a Big Nine Conference match at the East gym.
Huettl, who ended up with four service aces, 12 assists and a team-best 12 digs, fired a trio of service aces in helping the Cougars take charge of Set 1. Junior outside hitter Carlie Wendinger banged two kills before junior Shanyce Johnson and senior Catelyn Young tallied ace hits to expand the margin to 17-10.
After four Rockets’ miscues made it 21-13, junior Sophia Donev’s two ace serves set up senior Jadyn Meyer’s game-ending ace block.
“We were able to get some good passes to get our offense going right away,” East coach Dan Blasl said. “I was nervous because when you play a scrappy team like JM, they don’t go away. I thought our kids came to play and did what we do best, which is feed the outside hitters and then mix it up in the middle.
“We had some nice defensive plays to keep things alive. We needed to have players step up without Jayda (Swalve), but we practice that every day in that you never know when it could be your turn to get a chance. Shanyce had an outstanding night for us as did some other players. … It was a team effort for us.”
Meyer’s ace block and loose-ball kill at the net put the Cougars up 8-4 in Set 2 before back-to-back ace serves from Wendinger, along with Meyer’s four-point service run, stretched things out to a 17-6 advantage.
After the Rockets trimmed the margin to 20-19 behind 6-foot-1 middle hitter Laynie Meister, kills from Wendinger and Johnson helped close out a 25-21 triumph.
“I think we were all excited about our chances to get that winning advantage,” said Johnson, who finished with seven kills. “I think Claire’s serves help us out a lot because that got us off to a good start and got our energy up right away. We talked a lot and were able to figure things out. … I was more confident in my hitting tonight.”
East controlled the final set behind Wendinger’s six kills, along with two each from Johnson and sophomore outside hitter Kenzie Wilkins. Wendinger totaled 11 digs and two ace blocks in the contest while Young chipped in 10 set assists and Donev came up with nine digs and three ace serves.
Meister led the Rockets with 11 kills while Estelle Mesumba added eight.
“We were learning to adjust to working with different people with Jayda out,” Wendinger said. “You have to keep communicating and it was nice to get off to the good start and get our momentum up. Everyone was being positive right from the start. We stayed up to our level the whole game and we’re able to get our blocks up to cover. … We all have drive and love to play the sport.”
East plays Thursday at Albert Lea.