By JIM LUTGENS
Sports Editor
NRHEG High School volleyball coach Ashley Tolzman described this year's Kenyon-Wanamingo squad as, "A strong team that has been having a great year."
They showed the Panthers why last Tuesday as NRHEG fell 3-0 at Kenyon. Game scores were 25-12, 25-23, 25-9.
Tolzman had plenty of praise for the Panthers' formidable foe, which improved to 10-0 in the conference and 22-2 overall.
"They cover their court defensively extremely well," she said. "We knew going in it was going to be a tough matchup. We came out much stronger than our match on Monday. The girls stayed positive and had some really great volleys throughout the night. Our second set was very exciting. We were able to keep things close."
Individually for NRHEG: Gabby Schlaak 1 kill, 1 block, 9 digs; Izzy Stadheim 4 digs; Elsie Schultz 1 kill, 10 digs; Tayler Schmidt 5 kills, 3 blocks, 9 digs; Hallie Schultz 17 set assists, 3 blocks, 9 digs; Keira Lenort 6 blocks; Madi Murray 2 kills, 8 blocks, 5 digs; Chloe Stork 3 kills, 6 blocks, 5 digs; Sydney Lewer 1 block; Faith Neilsen 5 kills, 18 digs.
The Panthers played a rare Friday night contest Oct. 13, traveling to Mapleton to take on Maple River. The Eagles won 3-1, with game scores of 25-19, 19-25, 26-24, 25-22.
"It was a very close match," said Tolzman. "There were a lot of long volleys and the Lady Panthers fought well offensively."
NRHEG had some impressive individual totals: Schlaak 12 kills, 2 blocks, 15 digs; Stadheim 3 digs; E.Schultz 6 digs; Schmidt 12 kills, 4 blocks, 18 digs; H.Schultz 36 assists, 9 blocks, 13 digs; Lenort 1 kill, 12 blocks; Murray 7 kills, 13 blocks, 1 dig; Stork 3 kills, 5 blocks, 3 digs; Nielsen 1 kill, 22 digs.
The Panthers are 5-5 in the Gopher Conference, 12-10 overall.