Lady Cards turn in solid tourney performance
Alan Dale
Randolph Times
RANDOLPH — The Randolph Lady Cardinals were stoked to get a bye into the Lewis and Clark Conference semifinals, but were met by an irresistible force in Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and fell 2-0 (25-18, 25-23).
However, the squad bounced back with a consolation 2-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-21) win.
Randolph (12-15) would advance to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday’s final with a win and would likely play the top-seeded hosts (20-5).
The Lady Cardinals will move into the postseason without defensive stalwart Grace Nordhues who was injured during the conference tournament.
“We told the girls after the Laurel game that this time we made them beat us and didn’t give away points to cost us the game,” Randolph head coach Rob Engel said. “We played well, but Laurel was just able to make a few more plays at the end.
“We did bounce back to beat Osmond and were more focused than when we played them the previous week, it’s always tough to get up for a consolation game because we came in with the idea of being in the winners bracket, but the girls did a good job to regroup, especially after Grace’s injury.”
Bailey Beal had 14 kills against Osmond while Brianna Sporleder added five blocks. Beal had nine kills and Ella Scott five kills against LCC while Erin Engel added 13 assists.
Now it’s about taking the next step.
“We are moving some people around before we start subdistrict play to deal with Grace being out, she’s a tough person to try to replace but we will have to have multiple people step up to fill in in her absence,” Rob Engel said. “One is Ariel Fye, we’re asking her to do some different things now and hopefully things will work out. Ariel’s one of our senior leaders and she is the type of player who will do whatever the team needs her to do, she’s been really positive all season and has had a great year for us.”
Fye said she felt the Lady Cardinals played better than the score indicated against LCC.
“Their just good,” Fye said. “They are 21-9 – that’s crazy. Our outside hitters are not tall, their block kind of hurts us sometimes since we can’t get up and over. But we did a good job of maneuvering around it to hit open spots on the court.
“I wish we had won against Laurel, but we played well against Osmond when we came back and played, especially when Grace got injured.”
Fye feels good about their subdistrict potential after playing a tough schedule full of higher classification squads.
“It makes our record look kind of ugly sometimes, but all of our games have been close with all of those teams,” Fye said. “It’s not like we have been absolutely destroyed in any of them – we stick up there. I feel pretty happy with our record, and I am excited about subdistrict and hopefully we can go further than we have gone in the past.
“The season has been successful, and I hope we can pull through and go to state – that would be amazing. It’s been a long time so I hope this is the one where we pull through.
Riverside 25 27 25 21 15
Randolph 23 29 22 25 9
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 25 25
Randolph 18 23
KILLS Randolph - Bailey Beal, 9; Ella Scott, 5; Erin Engel, 3; Jacie Bartels, 2; Emma Muner, 1; Brianna Sporleder, 1.
ACE SERVES Randolph - Emma Munter, 2; Bailey Beal, 2; Jacey Bartels, 1; Ariel Fye, 1.
BLOCKS Randolph - Emma Munter, 1; Ella Scott, 1; Erin Engel, 1.
DIGS Randolph - Grace Nordhues, 9; Jacey Bartels, 7; Ella Scott, 5; Ariel Fye, 5; Erin Engel, 5; Emma Munter, 2; Bailey Beal, 1.
SET ASSISTS Randolph - Erin Engel, 13; Emma Munter, 1; Jacey Bartels, 1; Grace Nordhues, 1.
Osmond 22 25 21
Randolph 25 22 25
KILLS
Randolph - Bailey Beal, 14; Ella Scott, 4; Brianna Sporleder, 2; Emma Munter, 2; Jacey Bartels, 2; Ariel Fye, 1; Erin Engel, 1.
ACE SERVES
Randolph - Jacey Bartels, 2; Bailey Beal, 2; Ella Scott, 1; Emma Munter, 1; Erin Engel, 1.
BLOCKS
Randolph - Brianna Sporleder, 5; Bailey Beal, 4; Emma Munter, 2; Ella Scott, 1; Jacey Bartels, 1; Erin Engel, 1.
DIGS
Randolph - Ella Scott, 10; Jacey Bartels, 9; Grace Nordhues, 4; Ariel Fye, 4; Rylynn Wnkelbauer, 3; Bailey Beal, 1; Brianna Sporleder, 1; Emma Munter, 1; Taylor Bloomquist, 1.
SET ASSISTS
