By Chad Koenen

Publisher

With just one week remaining in the regular season, the New York Mills Eagles are continuing to play at a high level on the court, even if the final score is not always going in their favor. 

After falling to Parkers Prairie in five games on Monday night, the Eagles fell to Pillager by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday in Park Region Conference action. On Thursday the Eagles wrapped up a busy week with a 1-3 record at the Underwood Tournament, including a 2-1 win over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

This week the Eagles will wrap up their regular season with a Park Region Conference game against Menahga. NY Mills is currently 3-22 on the season. 

Monday

NY Mills came out firing on all cylinders last Monday night as the Eagles looked poised to pick up an important Section 6A win over the Parkers Prairie Panthers. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead after taking the first two games by scores of 25-16, 25-23. However, Parkers Prairie was able to narrowly even the match at 2-2 after securing a pair of wins by score of 25-23, 25-22 to send the match into a fifth and final game. 

“We played some of our best volleyball of the season, but fell short of a match victory. Sets three and four were anybody’s to win but give credit to Parkers Prairie as they made just a few more plays than we did. In set five, we started out a little slower than we’d have liked and had an uphill battle that fell short,” said head coach Steve Dunrud. “We’re very happy with our overall game as we played very well around the net and were aggressive with our swings, while still being smart with our attack. Our passing was improved which gave our setters a chance to distribute the ball to multiple hitters.”

The fifth game went to the Panthers as they secured a 15-9 win to take the match by a score of 3-2. 

Ellyana Ruther led a balanced scoring attack as she finished with 15 kills to go along with 15 digs. She also had a solid night at the service line as she went 20-21 serving.

Alise Schornack finished with 10 kills, Chloe Costin chipped in with eight kills and Alivia Preuss finished with seven kills.

Aubree Salo led the team with 19 digs, while Julie Seim finished with 12 digs to go along with a team-high 24 assists. Seim also led the team in serving for the night as she went 21-21 with three ace serves, while Abby Berndt was a perfect 6-6, Preuss was a perfect 3-3 and Costin was a perfect 10-10 from the service line. As a team the Eagles served 91 percent with 11 ace serves. 

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 19, Julie Seim 24, Emilia Maunumaki 1

KILLS- Alise Schornack 10, Chloe Costin 8, Julie Seim 1, Ellyana Ruther 15, Alivia Preuss 7, Emilia Maunumaki 3, Aria VanOrsdel 4

DIGS- Abby Berndt 9, Talli Schmitz 6, Alise Schornack 7, Chloe Costin 5, Julie Seim 12, Ellyana Ruther 15, Aubree Salo 19, Emilia Maunumaki 2, Aria VanOrsdel 1

BLOCKS- Chloe Costin 5, Ellyana Ruther 3, Alivia Preuss 7, Aria VanOrsdel 1

SERVING- Abby Berndt 6-6, Aubree Salo 6-8, Alivia Preuss 3-3, Ellyana Ruther 20-21 (2 ace), Julie Seim 21-21 (3 ace), Chloe Costin 10-10, Alise Schornack 19-21 (4 ace), Talli Schmitz 11-15 (2 ace)

Tuesday

NY Mills once again continued to have a solid night on the court, but for the second straight day they came up just short on the scoreboard as they narrowly fell to the Pillager Huskies by a score of 3-1.

After Pillager took the first game 25-22, the Eagles charged back in a big way with a 25-13 win in the second game. From there it was back-and-forth between both teams with the Huskies doing just enough in the end to come away with a 25-19 win in the third game and a 25-22 win in the fourth game to come away with the Park Region Conference win.

“Another exciting match for the New York Mills Eagles as they battled the Huskies from Pillager. It really was a great match to watch as the Eagles have played their best overall volleyball these past two nights. It’s really fun to watch the team play right now,” said head coach Steve Dunrud. 

As a team the Eagles picked up an impressive 81 digs in just four games as the defense was able to keep the team in the game throughout the night. Aubree Salo led the team with 15 digs and Ellyana Ruther finished with 14 digs with Abby Berndt and Julie Seim also reaching double figures with 10 digs apiece. The team also finished with 12 blocks with Alivia Preuss leading the way with five blocks.

“We did a very nice job at the net and back row as Pillager has multiple awesome hitters. We pretty much matched them hit for hit throughout the match. Our serving was outstanding and the girls gave great effort on defense keeping the ball off the floor numerous times,” said Dunrud. “We’re not seeing the results that we’d like to see on the scoreboard, but we’ve really turned the corner as far as becoming a volleyball team that’s much improved and playing solid volleyball both offensively and defensively. I’m very proud of our efforts and attitudes that we’ve shown every day in practice and matches.”

Seim and Talli Schmitz finished with 19 and 17 assists on the offensive end with Ruther picking up an impressive 14 kills to go along with her 14 digs. Preuss also reached double figures with 12 kills in the loss. Seim was a perfect 19-19, Sawyer Anderson was a perfect 16-16 Schmitz was a perfect 10-10, Costin was a perfect 7-7, Alise Schornack was a perfect 5-5, Autumn Salo was a perfect 5-5 and Preuss was a perfect 2-2 from the service line in the loss. As a team the Eagles served 97 percent from the service line and went 87-90 from the line.

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 17, Julie Seim 19, Sawyer Anderson 1, Autumn Salo 5

KILLS- Alise Schornack 6, Chloe Costin 5, Ellyana Ruther 14, Alivia Preuss 12, Emilia Maunumaki 2, Aria VanOrsdel 5

DIGS- Abby Berndt 10, Sawyer Anderson 8, Aria VanOrsdel 5, Emilia Maunumaki 2, Aubree Salo 15, Alivia Preuss 1, Ellyana Ruther 14, Julie Seim 10, Chloe Costin 3, Alise Schornack 7, Talli Schmitz 6

BLOCKS- Chloe Costin 4, Ellyana Ruther 1, Alivia Preuss 5, Emilia Maunumaki 1, Aria VanOrsdel 1

SERVING- Abby Berndt 2-3, Autumn Salo 5-5 (1 ace), Sawyer Anderson 16-16 (6 ace), Aubree Salo 7-8 (2 ace), Alivia Preuss 2-2, Ellyana Ruther 14-15 (3 ace), Julie Seim 19-19 (2 ace), Chloe Costin 7-7, Alise Schornack 5-5, Talli Schmitz 10-10 (1 ace)

Thursday

On Thursday the Eagles traveled to Underwood for the annual Underwood Tournament. NY Mills kicked off the tournament against one of the top teams in the section and played right with the Rockets, before falling 25-18, 25-11. 

Head coach Steve Dunrud said the front line did a good job offensively and defensively in the match, but the Rockets took the Eagles out of their offense in the second set. However, he said it was a good way to get the tournament going against a solid Rocket team.

In the second match, NY Mills fell to a tough Verndale Pirates team in what turned out to be a great defensive match from start to finish. The Eagles fell in an exciting 25-23 first set, before dropping the second set by a score of 25-17.

In their third match of the day, NY Mills picked up a nice win over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg by a score of 2-1 (25-23, 16-25, 15-7). 

Dunrud said it was a great win and was good to have the team come out and get a win in the first set. He said it was also good to see the team control the third set from the beginning to secure the 2-1 in. 

In their final match of the day, NY Mills fell to Pelican Rapids 25-19, 25-20. Dunrud said the Vikings did a good job on the defensive end of the court picking up balls from the attackers and was proud of the effort with six games in just four days. 

ASSISTS- Talli Schmitz 22, Julie Seim 30, Aria VanOrsdel 1, Autumn Salo 17

KILLS- Sawyer Anderson 4, Aria VanOrsdel 9, Emilia Maunumaki 8, Alivia Preuss 15, Ellyana Ruther 25, Chloe Costin 10, Alise Schornack 3, Talli Schmitz 2

DIGS- Talli Schmitz 9, Alise Schornack 12, Chloe Costin 7, Julie Seim 12, Ellyana Ruther 32, Alivia Preuss 2, Aubree Salo 31, Emilia Maunumaki 5, Aria VanOrsdel 4, Esne Lien 5, Channing Frost 1, Sawyer Anderson 7, Autumn Salo 12

BLOCKS- Aria VanOrsdel 1, Alivia Preuss 6, Elyanna Ruther 3, Chloe Costin 5

SERVING- Talli Schmitz 17-17 (3 ace), Alise Schornack 11-12, Chloe Costin 24-26 (2 ace), Julie Seim 21-21 (2 ace), Ellyana Ruther 24-25 (2 ace), Alivia Preuss 2-3 (1 ace), Aubree Salo 20-23 (2 ace), Esne Lien 4-4, Sawyer Anderson 16-18 (3 ace), Autumn Salo 17-19 (1 ace)