Senior night ends in Hilltopper loss

By Kelsie Hoitomt

GLENWOOD CITY – The Glenwood City volleyball team had their last regular season game on Tuesday, October 10 where they hosted the Pepin Lakers who swept the Hilltoppers in three sets 25-20, 25-22 and 25-16.

The Toppers finished their regular season 1-8 in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference with the Lakers improving to 3-5.

Despite the loss, the Hilltopper’s played hard and with their usual enthusiasm, but the game just wasn’t in their favor.

The score seemed to quickly change as attack attempts were hit into the net and serve receives were bobbled in the back row.

There were some incredibly hard hits in the attempts on the Hilltoppers though, especially from seniors Kelsie Knops and Haley Tiberg.

Between the two of them they collected 11 kills, Tiberg with eight and Knops with three.

Knops has been more of a silent defender who when given the opportunity can lay a hard hit down with the powerful swing she has.

Between Kelly Perkins, Elizabeth Nyhus and Maggie Jordheim, the net was covered very well and they were able to put up blocks for almost every attack the Lakers attempted.

Jordheim played one of her best games of the season at the net as she was the main set of hands that put up blocks as well as tipped balls.

The Toppers were just not quite as quick on the rebound off the net as they should have been and that is where the majority of points added up for the Lakers.

“Being it was senior night, it was an emotional game for all of the players and it definitely interfered with their playing. They shut down halfway through each set and got frustrated with themselves and their teammates after giving up just a few points. They had some really nice long volleys and just couldn’t seem to put the ball down and gave up easy points on little errors,” explained coach Chelsea Culver.

Tiberg not only led the team in kills, but she had three blocks, two service aces and six digs. Knops had two service aces as well and Ashley Burns had 12 digs.

The Toppers played McDonell Central on Tuesday for their first round of Regionals.