BRODHEAD - After early troubles, a Brodhead team already facing adversity turned it around and beat Parkview in four games, 23-25, 25-16, 25-10, 25-18.
Feeling the shock of middle hitter Kristen Ruchti out for the week with a knee injury, the Cardinals (17-4-2, 4-0 Rock Valley) may have started slower than they would have liked.
Then, Ruchti's back up, Dana Lewis, went out with a bad ankle injury while her team was already trailing 13-10 in the first game. It wasn't long afterwards that Brodhead fell behind Parkview (0-4 Rock Valley) 20-11 in game one.
Head coach Eric Ebensperger told his team to relax and just play its game. The Cards followed orders and went on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 23, but Parkview slapped away back-to-back points for the win and early match lead.
"We had to put something together," Ebensberger said. "After basically losing our two big middles, we never really had a good rotation.
"We've had some players with injuries and it's been rough," Ebensberger continued. "However, we have some girls who can play in different spots that really picked it up and played some really good volleyball."
In the second game, Brodhead cruised out to a 9-2 advantage. Before long the score advanced to 16-10 and 21-16 before the Cardinals capped the game with a 4-0 run.
In game three, with the crowd screaming as loud as ever, the Cardinals again jumped ahead. With the score in Brodhead's favor at 10-7, Ebensperger's team did something that seldom happens in high school volleyball - the Cardinals rung off 13 straight points and 15-of-17 to take the match lead.
"That doesn't happen very often in rally score. We had some really good defense going that side," Ebensberger said. "Amanda Johnson just kept serving and the defense stepped up. We kept going and going and going."
In game four, Parkview posed a challenge for Brodhead. The two teams swapped points back and forth for much of first half of the game. Parkview led 11-9 at one point before Brodhead started to streak. The Cardinals scored 15 of the next 21 points and won the match when Parkview failed to return a volley.
"It was a good night. But we need to get injury free and come out strong (the rest of this year)," Ebensberger said. "We need to get healthy. If we can get healthy this week, hopefully we can stay on top of the conference after the good Edgerton tournament this past weekend."
Cassie Wymer dished out 37 assists, Courtney Mielke had 14 kills and three aces, and Jordan Riese added nine kills and three blocks for the Cardinals. Amanda Johnson stepped up her game with seven digs, three service aces and a handful of well-timed tap kills.
Feeling the shock of middle hitter Kristen Ruchti out for the week with a knee injury, the Cardinals (17-4-2, 4-0 Rock Valley) may have started slower than they would have liked.
Then, Ruchti's back up, Dana Lewis, went out with a bad ankle injury while her team was already trailing 13-10 in the first game. It wasn't long afterwards that Brodhead fell behind Parkview (0-4 Rock Valley) 20-11 in game one.
Head coach Eric Ebensperger told his team to relax and just play its game. The Cards followed orders and went on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 23, but Parkview slapped away back-to-back points for the win and early match lead.
"We had to put something together," Ebensberger said. "After basically losing our two big middles, we never really had a good rotation.
"We've had some players with injuries and it's been rough," Ebensberger continued. "However, we have some girls who can play in different spots that really picked it up and played some really good volleyball."
In the second game, Brodhead cruised out to a 9-2 advantage. Before long the score advanced to 16-10 and 21-16 before the Cardinals capped the game with a 4-0 run.
In game three, with the crowd screaming as loud as ever, the Cardinals again jumped ahead. With the score in Brodhead's favor at 10-7, Ebensperger's team did something that seldom happens in high school volleyball - the Cardinals rung off 13 straight points and 15-of-17 to take the match lead.
"That doesn't happen very often in rally score. We had some really good defense going that side," Ebensberger said. "Amanda Johnson just kept serving and the defense stepped up. We kept going and going and going."
In game four, Parkview posed a challenge for Brodhead. The two teams swapped points back and forth for much of first half of the game. Parkview led 11-9 at one point before Brodhead started to streak. The Cardinals scored 15 of the next 21 points and won the match when Parkview failed to return a volley.
"It was a good night. But we need to get injury free and come out strong (the rest of this year)," Ebensberger said. "We need to get healthy. If we can get healthy this week, hopefully we can stay on top of the conference after the good Edgerton tournament this past weekend."
Cassie Wymer dished out 37 assists, Courtney Mielke had 14 kills and three aces, and Jordan Riese added nine kills and three blocks for the Cardinals. Amanda Johnson stepped up her game with seven digs, three service aces and a handful of well-timed tap kills.
