Mesabi rallies to defeat Raiders

VIRGINIA - Leading the match 2-0 the Central Lakes College Raiders watched Mesabi Range win the last three and capture a 3-2 Northern Division victory Wednesday.

CLC won the first two games 25-20, 26-24. Mesabi won the last three 28-26, 25-23 and 15-10.

"We missed a lot of serves," CLC coach Jane Peterson said. "That's one glaring thing on the stat sheet. We had so many I don't even want to say the number it was so bad. We were missing them at the end when it was close. We've asked them to serve aggressively, to think differently about serving than they have before.

"We're young and inexperienced but I asked them, 'How long do you want to be that way?' It's up to us to get over that. We're not so inexperienced physically, we're OK there, it's mental inexperience."

Kayla Atkinson had 15 digs, Rachel Pfeffer 43 set assists and Jenna Terhaar 14 kills to lead the Raiders.

"It wasn't terrible," Peterson said. "We weren't ahead by a lot and lost. It was close. We fought hard. It's just a little hump to get over, not a big one. It's a challenge I look forward to.

"Now that they know how bad it feels maybe they'll figure out how to focus. It's a big challenge coaching, to get them to focus on the right thing at the right time. They're a fun, hard-working group. There's another level we'll try to get to, and we're not very far from it."

Central Lakes 25 26 26 23 10

Mesabi 20 24 28 25 15

Central Lakes statistics

Kayla Atkinson 15 digs

Rachel Pfeffer 5 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 43 set assists

Erica Feldewerd 10 kills, 8 digs, 1 block

Megan Rakow 2 digs

Elora Meisner 8 kills, 2 digs, 1 block

Jenna Terhaar 14 kills

Kirstie Grill 5 kills, 3 ace serves, 6 blocks

Christine Malm 4 digs, 1 ace serve

Krystle Hamilton 1 ace serve, 13 digs

Kaitlyn Roerick 10 kills, 2 blocks

Division: CLC 0-1. Overall: CLC 3-2. Next match: Central Lakes at Vermilion noon Saturday.