OAK PARK HEIGHTS — Emerging from a rough stretch that included a loss to conference co-leader Roseville, the Stillwater volleyball team knocked off Mounds View 3-0 in Suburban East Conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at Stillwater Area High School.
It was the first conference loss of the season for Mounds View (3-1 SEC, 9-4), which fell out of a three-way tie for the league lead with East Ridge (4-0, 12-5) and Roseville (4-0, 14-3). The win was also important for the Ponies (2-2, 6-12) after dropping four matches in a weekend tournament and then getting swept by Roseville.
Stillwater has been dealing with illness throughout the team and that played a role, but the Ponies were sharper while topping Mounds View by scores of 25-21, 25-23 and 25-22.
“We really emphasized coming out of the gate ready to play,” Ponies coach Mike Alexander said. “Having the whole team back it was important for the psyche of the team and we needed to feel that success early in the match.”
Mackenzie Slachta went on an early serving run as the Ponies surged out to a 10-1 lead in the opening set.
Courtney Peters led the Ponies with 11 kills and also contributed nine digs. Cecilia Spaeth added nine kills on just 21 attempts on the right side.
Roseville 3, Stillwater 1At Roseville, in a match-up of teams that have also met in the section finals each of the past four years, Roseville won this round while topping the Ponies 3-0 in a conference match on Monday, Sept. 23 at Roseville Area High School.
The ninth-ranked Raiders won by scores of 25-19, 25-18 and 25-20.
Stillwater played without one of its top hitters Courtney Peters, but also welcomed the return of Ella Hartung after illness kept her out of five recent matches. The sophomore racked up 14 kills and also finished with a 2.2 percentage on 30 passes.
“It was her first match back and the first time she stepped into that six-rotation role after normally only playing the first row,” Alexander said. “It was her best match this season.”
Ponies go 0-4 at Eagle InviteAt Apple Valley, the task of competing in a field loaded with ranked teams was made more challenging with a short-handed lineup as Stillwater lost all four matches to finish 16th in the Eagle Invite on Sept. 20-21 at Apple Valley High School.
“Honestly, I thought we competed really well,” Alexander said. “We had no starters left and Courtney (Peters) only played half a rotation, but our girls didn’t shy away from that and they came into every game feeling like they could win. We have a 15-player roster and by last match we had eight players available to use. The competition was outstanding, but they kept fighting.”
Stillwater lost to Marshall 25-18, 25-18 and Eden Prairie 25-23, 25-18 on Friday and were also swept in both matches on Saturday. Wayzata defeated the Ponies 28-26, 25-10 and Bloomington Jefferson followed with a 30-28, 25-17 win to close out the weekend.
“The reserves really stepped up,” Alexander said. “They did the system well and it was a great experience against those teams, which was really a silver lining.”
Stillwater 3, Woodbury 2At Oak Park Heights, the Ponies rallied after losing the second and third games to defeat Woodbury 3-2 in a conference match on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Stillwater Area High School. Stillwater prevailed by scores of 25-18, 16-25, 21-25, 25-20 and 17-15.
“They have a solid team and there’s really no nights off in the SEC,” Alexander said. “It was just two quality teams playing really high-level volleyball.
“We started out really strong, but Woodbury settled into the groove and that’s when we lost Sets 2 and 3.”
Courtney Peters totaled 19 kills and Josie Hellyer helped spread the ball around with 43 set assists.
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