“This tournament was huge for our confidence going into playoffs,” stated Head Coach Missy Foslien of the lady Knights.  “The girls needed to see their potential, and even with a loss in the championship match, they know that they played some pretty amazing volleyball on Thursday.  Next Wednesday, as the number 2 seed in our sub-section, we will play the winner of the match between Wheaton/Herman-Norcross and Ashby.”

A milestone was reached by Libero Madelyn Westrom who registered her 1000 career dig.  Earlier this season, two other lady Knights reached career milestones as Macy Grosz passed 2000 career assists and Mya Foslien went past 1000 career kills.

Stat leaders from the Blocktoberfest Tournament were Grosz (110 assists, 45 digs, 45/47 serving, 4 aces), Foslien (30/32 serving, 6 aces, 53 kills, 50 digs, 3 blocks), Madelyn Westrom (43/46 serving, 5 aces, 80 digs), Izzy Puchalski (40/44 serving, 5 aces, 20 kills, 29 digs), Alaina Sykora (40/45 serving, 6 aces, 31 digs), Whitney Westrom (30/34 serving, 8 kills, 55 digs, 3 blocks), Madi Fagre (27 kills, 11 digs, 6 blocks), and Jaclynn Nelson (18 kills, 3 blocks).

Here is Coach Foslien’s Tournament recap from Thursday.
Pelican Rapids
It was a slow start and some rocky play vs. Pelican Rapids.  We did not serve well, just 90% and had 23 kills and 15 hitting errors, collectively.  The Knights were down 4-10 in set two, but rallied back a couple of times and got the win.  Mya Foslien had 11 kills and 14 digs while Macy Grosz tallied 19 assists and 2 blocks. Izzy Puchlaski also had 2 ace serves.

Win-E-Mac
The Knights were sluggish in this match as well, starting slow and not playing with a lot of energy.  In set one, Madelyn Westrom served seven straight and had 4 aces, while Mya Foslien, and Alaina Sykora each had 3. Madi Fagre led with 9 kills, Jaclynn Nelson added 6, Izzy Puchalski had 5 and Mya Foslien had 7. Macy Grosz had 25 set assists. 

Detroit Lakes
We needed to shift our thinking and our energy on the day. DL was our last pool play game.  The Knights were outsized in every position, but showed up in a big way! The Knights came out and played with energy and grit.  Both teams not backing down. Whitney Westrom had a nice service run to put us up 17-14 in the first set.  But the Lakers then scored six straight forcing Coach Foslien to use two timeouts at 18-19 and again at 18-21.  Alaina Sykora came in and served with the score 22-24 and got us in the lead 25-24.  The Knights lost the next rally, but earned a side-out to bring Izzy Puchalski to the service line to finish out set one, 27-25.  Set two the Knights came out to an early lead and never looked back. DL called timeouts at 2-7 and 4-13.  Izzy Puchalski and Macy Grosz served nicely. DL looked like they were going to make a comeback but the Knights finished the second set 25-19.  Macy Grosz had 20 assists, Mya Foslien had 11 kills, Jaclynn Nelson played very well out of the middle and had 7 kills.  Madi Fagre had 2 ace blocks and Madelyn Westrom had 21 digs to lead the Knights.

Hawley
After a huge win over DL the Knights were still on an energy rush! Hawley seemed a little worn down from their three set match versus Sauk Centre just minutes before. We came out very strong. Mya Foslien (11 kills) had some amazing hits down the line. Madi Fagre (7 kills) also had some nice hits on the outside. Madelyn Westrom had 20 digs and also earned her 1,000th career dig in set two of this match. 

Sauk Centre
Once again we faced our West Central Conference rivals, the Mainstreeters. There’s just something about Sauk Centre that we struggle with, it could be that they are very deep with the amount of players that can be efficient making plays or their size, but the Knights started out very slow and tried to regain pride as they finished set one within ten points.  Set two had the opposite start, the Knights were up 14-4 with a nine point service run by Madelyn Westrom. The Knights won easily 25-17. Set three looked as if the Knights would run away with it, we were up 6-3 and again 9-6 before the Mainstreeters went on a 5 point service run to lead 9-12. The Knights fought back but it just wasn’t meant to be. Macy Grosz finished with 25 set assists and 19 digs. Mya Foslien had 13 kills and 2 ace serves. Madi Fagre and Izzy Puchalski had 6 kills, and Madelyn Westrom had 20 digs.