The Brainerd Warriors improved upon their best start in eight years with a sweep of the St. Cloud Apollo Eagles in a Central Lakes Conference match Thursday night at Brainerd High School.
Brainerd improved to 3-0 in the CLC and to 9-2 overall. That betters the start of the 2003 team, which opened 8-3.
Sydnie Mauch recorded 17 kills, Sarah Miller accumulated 13 digs, Hannah Kangas had 24 set assists and Courtney Ryan smacked seven kills to lead the Warriors.
“Hannah was just setting,” Warriors coach Jared Diem said. “She was just really in control of the ball.
“We had great serve receive again. That makes everyone play better, you have a lot of opportunities to hit. Courtney might have had the hardest hit I’ve ever seen since I’ve been coaching. It was amazing.
“We just played great defense. We serve received well. Sydnie was unstoppable, she was 17-27 kills. She’s hitting about .500. They had no answer for her.
“I have to give a nod to assistant coach Nate Eckman. He does our serve calling. I feel he gives our team a lot of opportunities because he’s finding the weakness in their serve receive.”
Apollo 19 10 20
Brainerd 25 25 25
Brainerd statistics
Sydnie Mauch 17 kills, 1 dig, 3 blocks,
Sarah Miller 13 digs, 1 ace,
Hannah Kangas 3 digs, 24 set assists,
Courtney Ryan 7 kills, 7 digs, .5 block
Taylor Johnshoy 3 kills, 1 ace, 3 set assists
Mikaela Chandler 1 kill, 3 digs, 2.5 blocks, 2 set assists
Tedi Ramberg 5 kills,
Jenna Degen 2 aces, 4 digs, 1 set assist
Conference: Brd 3-0. Overall: Brd 9-2. Next: Brainerd at Bemidji 7 p.m. Tuesday.
