Out & About: Andover/Blaine

#3 posting 9.13.2007
your daily dose of girls volleyball news & information

ANDOVER huskies 3, BLAINE bengals 0
(25-23, 26-24, 25-14)

In a battle of top 10 AAA teams, Andover beat NW Suburban rival Blaine at home in a sweep at home. It was a revenge match from last year's five game section 7AAA final. This year the two teams are in different sections with Blaine in 5, and Andover in 7. Andover's Megan Carlson had 18 kills and Lauren Cipperly added 11. Blaine's Jessica Granquist had 11 kills also. Carlson is headed to Marshall, a D1 program. Granquist will be a Gopher next season.

First off a word about the crowd. Both sides were pulled down with student sections that were standing, packed all night. It was the rowdiest crowd I have seen so far this year. Most of the time the matches I see are rather quiet. The cheers were going back and forth with there "you can't do that" followed by the claps; and other, sometimes questionable, cheers. The announcer had to mention to cheer for a team, not against an individual.

In game one, Lauren Cipperly got Andover to a quick 4-0 lead with a pair of kills by Megan Carlson and a pair of aces. The Huskies kept building on their lead with a 11-6 lead during Carlson's serve. This time Cipperly chipped in two kills in a three point service run. There was one stretch of the game where both teams traded four straight missed serves, three deep. Blaine did put together a 13-5 run with Granquist serving up three straight points to make it 19-16. That prompted an Andover time out. A double contact gave the ball back to Andover. The next six points came on errors on both teams. A tip kill by Blaine's Molly Kreklow put the Bengals on the verge at 23-21. Another Andover time worked with Megan Keller putting up a block. Cipperly bookended the first game with three straight points. Blaine tried to stop the momentum at 24-23, but after the time out Cipperly finished the first game with her second straight ace.

Blaine held the advantage in game two early. On Granquist's serve Blaine led 10-4 with Ashley Kvistberg putting down two straight kills. Andover started their comeback at this point. A huge part of the rally was the fact that the first ball side out game of Andover was humming. The Huskies had 10 straight side outs to climb back into the contest. Carlson, in this stretch gave Andover their first lead at 17-16 with two straight jump serve aces which forced Blaine to burn a time out. Cipperly, three rotations later, put Andover up 22-19 with her fifth ace of the night again forcing Blaine to stop to talk about it. Cipperly missed on her serve wide and that opened the door for the Bengals. Carlson had a side out kill, but Granquist returned the favor. The game was knotted up at 24 all after a Kvistberg kill on Granquist's serve, but Carlson stopped that with a side out kill, and then finished the second game with her third ace of the game.

In the third game Andover slammed the door on Blaine's serve game with 12 straight FBSO. Blaine didn't help their cause with three missed serves. Andover was able to squeeze one point out of Carlson's serve, but they too were having a hard time generating anything. Soon Andover was getting one point off their serves and when it came back to Carlson again she notched two more service points on Blaine errors to make it 14-9. Blaine took a time out at 13-9. A missed serve gave the ball back to the Bengals. Cipperly put down a kill and then the points, which were so hard to come by for both teams, opened up. On Shannyn Rosendahl's serve Andover added six points to make it 21-10. Cipperly had three points, but the last four points in the seven point run were all Blaine errors. Again Blaine was forced to take a time out at 20-10. Finally on Kreklow's serve Blaine got a point off her serve, the only time in game three. Carlson ended the night with two straight kills, one on the side out, and then on Amy Howard's serve.

photos: #1 Megan Carlson goes down the line for a kill in game #2; #2 Ashley Kvistberg of Blaine goes up for an attack with Andover's Megan Keller (#13) and Jenna McNallen (#9) up for the block. photos by kja

ANDOVER
1 Lauren Cipperly, OH 4-1-11----16
2 Megan Keller, MH 1-1-0----2
2 Kayla Evans, server 0-0-0---0
2 Amy Howard, server 0-0-0----0
2br Shannon Rosendahl, L 0-0-0---0
3 Nicole Husfeld, S 0-0-1----1
4 Megan Carlson, OH 3-0-18---21
5 Shannyn Rosendahl, L 0-0-0----0
5fr Alex Nelson, MH 0-2-4----6
6 Amy Kurtovich, DS 0-0-0----0
Jenna McNallen, RH 0-0-2----2
totals: 8-4-36----48 points, 27 points on Blaine errors

BLAINE
1 Ashley Kvistberg, OH 0-0-7----7
1br Amber Marciniak, DS 0-0-0----0
2 Molly Kreklow, MH/S 0-1-8----9
3 Reiley Dahlberg, RH 1-0-1----2
4 Jessica Granquist, OH 0-0-11----11
5 Brittney Barren, MH 1-0-0-----1
5 Tracie Gillund, MH 0-0-0----0
5br Amanda Lom, L 0-0-0----0
6 Mackenzie Suda, S 0-0-1----1
totals: 2-1-28----31 points; 30 points on Andover errors

TRENCH PLAYER
Megan Carlson coiled, ready to strike, good timing.

BY THE NUMBERS
team, fbso/fbso attempts; fbso %; points, % earned; % allowed
Andover 27/41, .659; 76; .632; .492
Blaine 24/42, .571; 61; .508; .355
Runs 3+: Andover 8, Blaine 5
Missed Serves: Andover 14, Blaine 9

ROTATIONS
ANDOVER
1 Cipperly 18-12 .600
2 Evans 13-13 .500
3 Husfeld 8-13 .381
4 Carlson 15-8 .652
5 Rosendahl 14-7 .667
6 Kurtovich 8-8 .500
totals: 76-61 .555

BLAINE
1 Kvistberg/Marciniak 10-17 .371
2 Kreklow 11-14 .440
3 Dahlberg 13-8 .619
4 Granquist 12-16 .429
5 Barren/Gillund 8-14 ,364
6 Suda 7-7 .500
totals: 61-76 .445

next up: tomorrow morning