By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Eagles ran into a bit of a challenging slate of games last week as they dropped all six matches to fall to 0-7 on the season. Despite the losses, the Eagles are proving to be an improving team on the court as they have been swept just twice all season and they narrowly lost three games by a 2-1 score at the Browerville tournament over the weekend,

On Tuesday night the Eagles hosted Brandon-Evansville in non-conference action and narrowly lost 3-1, before traveling to Wadena-Deer Creek on Thursday in their Park Region Conference opener where they lost by a score of 3-0.

Over the weekend the Eagles traveled to Browerville for the annual Browerville tournament. Despite dropping all four games, NY Mills was able to push the eventual champion Braham to three games, as well as Long Prairie-Grey Eagle and Brandon-Evansville.

This week the Eagles will look to get into the win column with a non-conference game against Lake Park-Audubon on Monday, before hosting Henning on Thursday night in another Park Region Conference contest. 

On Thursday, Oct. 13 the Eagles will host the Pillager Huskies in the annual Pink Night volleyball game. Shirts are currently for sale online at https://nympink26.itemorder.com through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24. Shirts that are ordered online will be delivered to the school by October 12 for pickup. Proceeds from the shirts purchased online will go directly to a Cancer Foundation of the teams choice. 

Tuesday

A point here and a point there was all that separated the NY Mills Eagles and the Brandon-Evansville Chargers on Tuesday night as the Eagles dropped their second game to start the season, this time by a score of 3-1.

After falling in the first set by a score of 26-24, NY Mills charged back in a big way in the second set by coming away with a 25-18 win to tie the match up at 1-1. Unfortunately, the Chargers did just enough in the third and fourth sets to hold a balanced Eagle attach at bay by scores of 25-20, 25-18 to come away with a well-fought battle on both sides. 

“A very good match between two teams who played some exciting volleyball through four sets,” said head coach Steve Dunrud. “Even though we came up short on the scoreboard, we’re seeing some very good plays on the Eagle side of the net. We’re learning an awful lot about ourselves and the game of volleyball that will pay off as the season continues. The effort that we’ve seen through two matches has been great to see.” 

The Eagles were led by a balanced scoring attack with Ellyana Ruther leading the team with 13 kills, while Alivia Preuss also reached double figures with 10 kills of her own. 

Aubree Salo finished with a team-high 20 digs to go along with four ace serves, while Ruther finished with 10 digs, Talli Schmitz and Alise Schornack both finished with eight digs apiece. 

“We’re getting contributions from everybody who has seen the court in these two matches,” said Dunrud. “Now we need to continue to improve with executing our offense and shortening up the opposing team’s runs. It is early in our season and everything is trending in the right direction.”

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 7, Julie Seim 13, Alivia Preuss 1, Aria VanOrsdel 4, Autumn Salo 4

KILLS- Chloe Costin 2, Alivia Preuss 10, Ellyana Ruther 13, Mia Maunumaki 2, Aria VanOrsdel 5, Sawyer Anderson 1

DIGS- Talli Schmitz 8, Alise Schornack 8, Julie Seim 1, Alivia Preuss 4, Aubree Salo 20, Ellyana Ruther 10, Aria VanOrsdel 2, Esne Lien 2, Sawyer Anderson 1, Autumn Salo 1

BLOCKS- Alivia Preuss 3, Allyana Ruther 1, Aria VanOrsdel 3

SERVES- Autumn Salo 1-1, Ellyana Ruther 12-13 (1 ace), Aubree Salo 16-17 (4 ace), Alivia Preuss 5-5, Julie Seim  14-16, Chloe Costin 5-8, Alise Schornack 12-15 (1 ace), Talli Schmitz 12-13 (1 ace)

Thursday

NY Mills had about as tough of an open to the Park Region Conference as a team could ask for on Thursday night when they traveled to Wadena-Deer Creek. The Eagles lost the opening game of the night 25-16, before falling 25-14, 25-13 to drop the match to the Wolverines by a score of 3-0.

Head coach Steve Dunrud said the Eagles had some positive play throughout the match, but were unable to get in an offensive rhythm as the Wolverines kept the Eagles playing defense most of the night. 

“We ran into a buzz saw last evening. Again, it’s early in the season and we saw some very positive play throughout the match on our side of the net,” said Dunrud. “Wadena/DC was very aggressive at the net and kept us off balance all night. We played defense most of the evening and gave them too many free balls which allowed them to vary their attack and hit the ball with authority.”

The Eagles were led offensively by Ellyana Ruther who finished with five kills and six digs, while Aubree Salo finished with eight digs in the loss. 

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 4, Julie Seim 6, Alivia Preuss 1, Aubree Salo 1, Autumn Salo 1

KILLS- Alise Schornack 2, Chloe Costin 1, Alivia Preuss 2, Ellyana Ruther 5, Mia Maunumaki 1, Aria VanOrsdel 3, Addyson Johnson 1

DIGS- Autumn Salo 2, Aria VanOrsdel 1, Ellyana Ruther 6, Aubree Salo 8, Alivia Preuss 1, Julie Seim 2, Alise Schornack 1, Talli Schmitz 2

BLOCKS- Ellyana Ruther 2

SERVES- Talli Schmitz 2-3, Alise Schornack 5-7, Chloe Costin 1-3, Julie Seim 9-9, Alivia Preuss 5-7, Aubree Salo 4-5, Ellyana Ruther 6-6 (1 ace), Esne Lien 2-2, Autumn Salo 1-1

Saturday

NY Mills wrapped up it busy week at the annual Browerville Tournament on Saturday.

After being swept by Bertha-Hewitt in the opening round of the tournament by a score of 25-16, 27-25, NY Mills pushed the eventual tournament champion Braham to three sets by scores of 19-25, 25-22, 9-15. In their third pool play match, the Eagles once again forced a third game against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. NY Mills lost the opening set of the contest 25-18, but charged back and took the second set 25-17. In the third set the Eagles were just unable to get over hump and fell 15-12 to drop the match 2-1. 

In their final match of the day, NY Mills once again came out just short of a close 2-1 match against Brandon-Evansville and fell 25-19, 17-25, 8-15 to the Chargers.

Despite the four losses, head coach Steve Dunrud said the Eagles played hard and showed outstanding effort on the court.

“Even though the tournament results may not show all of the positives that occurred for the Eagle volleyball team on Saturday, we saw a lot of growth from our players. Every player (15) on the roster got a lot of playing time throughout the day and contributed to what we’re building this season. The effort the girls showed throughout the day was outstanding,” said Dunrud. “Our serving was a plus and we were a lot more active around the net both offensively and defensively. We’re working on eliminating some of the unforced errors that happen and also getting a side-out quicker when the opposition is on a run. Improving in those two areas will translate into us becoming a very good team.”

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 18, Julie Seim 23, Aria VanOrsdel 3, Autumn Salo 27

KILLS- Talli Schmitz 3, Chloe Costin 14, Alivia Preuss 22, Ellyana Ruther 18, Mia Maunumaki 7, Aria VanOrsdel 4, Channing Frost 2, Sawyer Anderson 8, Paisley Kneisl 3

DIGS- Talli Schmitz 11, Chloe Costin 6, Julie Seim 11, Alivia Preuss 2, Aubree Salo 27, Ellyana Ruther 29, Mia Maunumaki 3, Aria VanOrsdel 5, Esne Lien 5, Channing Frost 1, Addyson Johnson 3, Sawyer Anderson 18, Autumn Salo 10, Abby Berndt 20, Paisley Kneisl 1

BLOCKS- Chloe Costin 8, Alivia Preuss 3, Ellyana Ruther 1, Mia Maunumaki 1, Aria VanOrsdel 3, Sawyer Anderson 1, Paisley Kneisl 1

SERVES- Talli Schmitz 23-24 (3 ace), Chloe Costin 14-14 (3 ace), Julie Seim 18-20, Alivia Preuss 4-9 (1 ace), Aubree Salo 20-21 (1 ace), Ellyana Ruther 33-36 (5 ace), Esne Lien 5-6, Addyson Johnson 6-6, Sawyer Anderson 18-20, Autumn Salo 31-34 (8 ace), Abby Berndt 12-12 (1 ace)