Thursday saw a huge rebound game for St. Mary’s as they beat Alcestor-Hudson in dominate fashion. It was aces wild from the very start. After a tough loss last Tuesday to Estelline-Hendricks, St Mary’s was looking to get in the win column. They would come home to host the Alcestor-Hudson Cubs who came into the game 1-0. The St. Mary’s would handle business from the start as the Cardinals win home opener.
Set 1
Sophomore Natalie Gilbert started the game off with an ace on her first serve. The Cardinals took that into a 7-0 run to start the ballgame. Both teams would go back-and-forth on points from there to a 12-6 lead for St. Mary’s. The Cubs from there would score 1 more point the rest of the set as the Cardinals ended it with an 11-1 run. The first set ended looking like this game was going to be over early.
Set 2
After the big set win for St. Mary’s, the Cardinals looked to carry that momentum. The Cubs had different plans. An entire new team in the second set, Alcestor-Hudson started off with a 14-4 run as it looked like this set would be a blowout. The Cardinals responded with a run of their own to get the set to 18-12, still trailing. Six points was as close as the Cubs would let the Cardinals get as they closed this set 25-16.
Set 3
After winning the second set, Alcestor-Hudson came into set 3 with all the confidence in the world. This set started very competitive as we saw tie at 3-3. After the tie, however, the Cardinals would go on a huge 13-0 run headed by Maddyn Lebrun’s serving to take the lead 16-3. Alcestor-Hudson stopped the run, but couldn’t get a run of their own going, the teams traded shots to bring the game to 21-10 in favor of the Cardinals who would go 4-0 to close the set at 25-10.
Set 4
The Cardinals started this set with an 8-2 run before the Cubs answered with 2 points to make it 8-4. From there the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to make the game 15-4. The teams had a habit of having a run happen and then alternating points. That happened again in this set as the teams went 7-4 to make it 22-8. However, the Cubs couldn’t mount any runs as they would fall in 4 sets as the set ended 25-10.
Stat breakdown
Truly, aces wild is one of the only things you could say for this game. The Cardinals finished with 16 aces in total, 4 per set. Natalie Gilbert lead with 8, Maddyn Lebrun, Harper Werdel, and Paige Geraets each had two, Stephenie Geraets and Emy Herber had 1 each. Gilbert finished with 2 blocks while Herber and Stephenie Geraets each had 1 block. Gilbert had 17 assists as well with Madelyn Klein finishing with 10 and both Stephanie Geraets and Lebrun finished with 1. Herber sent down 10 kills with Werdel right behind with 9. Also in the kill department, Stephenie Geraets had 5, Paige Geraets had 3, Gilbert and Lebrun each tallied 2, and Kate Leibl had 1. Werdel led in digs with 20 with Lebrun having 18 and Layla Hanson totaling 13.
True domination as the Cardinals win their home opener. With set wins of 25-7, 25-10, and 25-10, the Cardinals look to keep that up going into their next game. The Cardinals play next in Rutland as St. Mary’s will take on the Oldham-Romona-Rutland Raiders on Tuesday, September 2. The Cardinals (1-1) will look to win again as they will take on a 1-1 Raiders squad. Though not 100%, the livestream should be on ORR’s YouTube under https://youtube.com/@orrraiders?si=S389hgtXst5UPvOh
