LHS Defeats Raiders in Season Opener (9-1-11)

The Louisville Lions defeated host Brownell-Talbot, 25-19, 25-21, after losing to ECNC rival, Malcolm, 25-16, 25-21, in opening night volleyball action.

Louisville defeats Brownell Talbot 25-19, 25-21
LHS broke out to a 7-0 lead in the first set of the Raider match, taking advantage of five Brownell-Talbot miscues and kills by senior Natalie Minchow and Samantha Lane, a 6’0” sophomore.

The Lions kept the pressure on Brownell, upping their lead to as many as 11 points at 22-11 on a Raider attack error, and appeared to have complete control of the game. But B-T came alive late, outscoring Louisville 7-1, largely through the serving efforts of Jennifer Coccia and Jessica Puetz, to tighten the score at 23-19.

But Louisville scored the final two points on a Morgan Dittberner kill and a Raider attack error to post the final score of 25-19.

In game two, Brownell-Talbot rode the momentum from their late, first set success to jump to a 3-0 lead. The Lions then used kills by Lane and Minchow, followed by a Dittberner block to knot the score at 3-3, the first of three ties before the Lions tried to pull away with three consecutive points on two Raider errors and a Tori Dean kill to make the score 11-8.

But the pesky Raiders stayed close, never trailing by any more then five points throughout the set, the final time at 23-18 before two Dean kills wrapped around two LHS errors gave the Lions the 25-21 victory.

With the win, the Lions are poised to take on Tekamah-Herman, the first of three opponents at Saturday’s Boys Town Quad.

Louisville falls to Malcolm 25-16, 25-21
In earlier action, the Malcolm Clippers posted a 2-0 victory over the Lions, winning the first set 25-16 followed by a 25-21 win in the second game.

Louisville and Malcolm were tied at 6-6 when the Clippers’ Makenzie Carrol was on the serving line for five straight points to take a commanding 11-6 lead. The Lions got as close as 14-13 on a Sam Lane kill but the Clippers outscored LHS 9-2, highlighted by three consecutive Alex Brockhaus kills to make the score 23-16 as Malcolm coasted to the win.

In game two, Louisville rebounded by scoring the first four points of the set and held the lead until the Clippers tied the score at 12-12. Malcolm took charge, increasing the margin to five at 23-18 before Louisville threatened on two, rare Clipper hitting errors and a Dittberner block. Malcolm ended the match with a kill and a Kayla Locke ace to win the game by the score of 25-21.

Statistics are unofficial.