“We are excited to play this year,” stated B-E Head Coach Kelly Olson.  “Our hope has always been to not only defend our conference title, but to put ourselves in a position to win another one.  Coming into Battle Lake I thought we had done what we needed to and the only thing left to do was to play the match.  Usually we get to scout a team or hear things about them, but try as I might, I could find nothing.  Coming in blind is tough, but we pulled together to get our third straight undefeated Little Eight conference championship. We did a few things really well that helped us do that.  We covered tips really well, and we served tough in stretches.  I also think the kids communicated with each other the whole match.  Those three things turned the match in our favor.” 

Brandon-Evansville was led by Kylee Dingwall (10 digs, 7 kills, 1 ace, 8/9 serving), Gretchen Bredberg (14/14 serving), Bailey Schaefer (10 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace), Mikenna Pattrin (10 kills, 4 blocks, 8/8 serving), Korrie Randt (6 digs, 25 set assists, 3 aces, 12/13 serving) and Taylor Yeats (6 ace serves).

“We had big contributions from Mikenna Pattrin on the net hitting and blocking,” reported Coach Olson.  “We also saw Kylee Dingwall play a strong match.  Taylor Yeats served tough as did Korrie Randt and Gretchen Bredberg.  Morgan Bitzan came off the bench to give us some defense and a consistent serve.  Grace Otto was all over the middle covering tips and digging as well, and I think she talked so much that her voice was hoarse by the end of the third set.  The bench was loud tonight too.  What a night.  Battle Lake came out tough each set and never let up.  It was a fun match to be a part of.  It was great to see us get a little better each set.  Now we need to clean a few things up for our match against CGB on Friday.  We should have a couple days of good tough practice to get ready.”

Battle Lake was led by Kate Christensen with 7 kills and a perfect night (11/11) on the serving line.  Grace VanErp and Hannah Cory each added 5 kills and Ady Tysdal had 4.

““This was a great match for the Battlers,” commented Head Coach Jenny Roisum of Battle Lake. “ B-E controlled the tempo of the match but the Battlers were able to keep up for the most of the match.  The Battlers dug a hole in sets 2 and 3 and forced them to play from behind.  The Battlers passed well tonight and made some great defensive moves but could not slow down the offensive attack of the Chargers." 

The Battlers head to Hancock for their next match on Thursday.