After a tough loss at home versus the Baltic Bulldogs, the Lady Cards found themselves back at home on Thursday. St Mary’s definitely rebounded well, taking on the Iroquois-Lake Preston Sharks. The Cardinals would show no signs of slowing down as Harper Werdel’s hot hand lifts St Mary’s to a straight-set win.
1st Set
The Sharks would start with the serve and send it into the net immediately sending the ball over to St Mary’s. A kill from Maddyn Lebrun and two kills from Emy Herber set the Lady Cards up 4-2. A kill from Paige Geraets and an ace from Herber would bring the lead to 7-2 early. Directly after the timeout from I-LP, Stephenie Geraets would send down a kill. Harper Werdel would come flying in for her first of many kills, making it 10-3. Werdel got another kill, prompting the Sharks to take their second timeout at 14-3. St Mary would get their lead up to 20-5. Herber would notch a kill and later would block the Shark attack, making it 25-7 and ending the set.
2nd Set
The 2nd set was truly a different looking game. Natalie Gilbert would spark the Cardinals while sending over three aces headlining the five unanswered points to start the set. Things would get messy for the Cardinals however. In contrast of the first set, the Sharks would end up tying the game at five and again at nine. I-LP would get out to a 12-9 lead before pushing forward for a 16-11 lead before St Mary’s burned a timeout. Werdel would get a kill right out of the timeout which altogether would jolt the Cardinals attack. Although the Sharks led 20-15, Herber served to a 22-20 set. S. Geraets notched an ace to tie, and Werdel would get a kill to end the set 25-22.
3rd Set
Gilbert would immediately get a kill and an ace to start off the 3rd set. Herber, Lebrun, and Werdel would also score kills to make it 7-1 where I-LP would burn a timeout. The two teams would trade shots, a 12-9 game as a result. St Mary’s looked to grab some momentum as Lebrun would notch a kill, Herber would notch a kill, and suddenly the lead was 15-10. A kill from S. Geraets, a kill from Werdel, and Herber specifically, notching a kill and an ace, made it 20-12. The Sharks only scored one more point the rest of the set, two kills from P. Geraets and two kills from Werdel hence ended it 25-13.
Rundown
The sophomore Harper Werdel would lead the way in kills with 16 alongside Herber’s seven, Lebrun and P. Geraets’ six, S. Geraets’ four and Gilbert’s two. Gilbert led the way with 30 assists followed by Madelyn Klein’s eight in addition to S. Geraets adding three assists. Gilbert finished with four aces with Herber adding two, and Lebrun and S. Geraets adding one each. Herber and P. Geraets tied at the top with three blocks each, Gilbert and S. Geraets would add two each with Werdel adding one. Layla Hanson finished with 20 digs while Lebrun had 15. Not far behind was Werdel with 13. Gilbert would finish with eight with Herber and S Geraets adding six each. Klein and Lucy Vargas each had three digs while P. Geraets had one as well.
The Lady Cards will play again Monday, October 6th in Castlewood. The 13-5 Cardinals look to improve their record against the 10-8 Warriors. That game will be streamed through Castlewood High School under https://www.youtube.com/@CastlewoodWarriorsLive-ku9jg.
