On Tuesday the St. Mary’s Lady Cards would travel to Sioux Falls Lutheran School to play the Eagles. Coming into the game 6-2, the Cardinals looked to improve on their record against the 5-3 Sioux Falls Lutheran. The game would quickly tip in favor of the Lady Cards. They would win in three sets as the Eagles find no answer for Herber and the Cardinals.
Set 1
The first set started with an Emy Herber kill. Sophomore Natalie Gilbert would go to the line for the Cards and throw up two straight aces. Sioux Falls Lutheran would finally get on the board, trailing 6-1. The Eagles struggled to keep the ball in bounds and would get down 8-2. Sophomore Maddyn Lebrun would send over two straight aces, and sophomore Harper Werdel would notch a kill. Stephenie Geraets would score on a kill making it 13-4. She would get the next point as well for the Cards on another kill. Lebrun would notch three kills making it 20-11. S. Geraets would notch a kill making it 21-11. An ace from Herber, and a kill from Paige Geraets would close the set 25-14.
Set 2
Gilbert would start at the service line in the second set. After a kill from Herber and an ace from Gilbert, the score would be 4-1 St. Mary’s. Two kills from Herber then an ace from Lebrun and then a block from Herber made it 9-2 before the Eagles called for a timeout. Although the timeout was called, St. Mary’s picked right up where they were with a Werdel kill and an S. Geraets kill. In an otherwise great set for St. Mary’s, Sioux Falls Lutheran would crawl to 13-7 lead. P. Geraets scored on a kill to make it 15-7 right before S. Geraets scored on an ace. Instead of falling, the Eagles would get it to 18-15. Herber, though, would grab two straight kills making it 20-15. Herber would end it with an ace at 25-18.
Set 3
Finally we would come to set three. The set started with an errant serve from Sioux Falls Lutheran, but this set went back-and-forth. The set would find a tie at 8-8. The Cardinals would finally look like they would take control, going up 13-12, but the Eagles wouldn’t go away. A kill from Werdel made it 14-12 and then P. Geraets had a block making it 15-12. Herber notched an ace before Sioux Falls Lutheran would get a point back. S. Geraets would get an ace making it 18-13. The Lady Cards would get out to a 20-15 lead after an error from the Eagles. P. Geraets would toe the line an send over two straight aces, making it 24-16. Lebrun would get a kill closing the set and game at 25-18.
Final Rundown
After Sioux Falls Lutheran could find no answer for Herber, we can look and appreciate the stats. First we’ll look at the attack for the Cardinals. Herber led the way with eight kills with Lebrun finishing with seven. Werdel would finish with six in addition to Stephanie Geraets’ five and Paige Geraets’ three. Gilbert had a game-high 23 assists as Madelyn Klein added six. S. Geraets added an assist. On the other hand in the ace category, Herber had five. Lebrun and Gilbert had three each while the Geraets girls each had two aces.
Meanwhile on defense, Herber, Werdel, and P. Geraets had one block each. Layla Hanson had 16 digs to boot with Lebrun’s 14 and Herber’s 12. Also in the dig category, Gilbert had seven to compare to klein’s 6. Werdel and S. Geraets added five with P. Geraets adding a dig.
After the great game, the Eagles truly had no answer for Herber and the Cardinals. The Cardinals would go to Deubrook on Thursday before traveling to Ethan on Monday, September 22nd. Results for the Deubrook game are under https://gobound.com/sd/sdhsaa/volleyball/2025-26/comps/h20250804050313109d0fc26a309f443?idSchool=h2020103041013a2e2578df6ab47d9ad.
