FARGO — In the serving department, Morgan Freije describes her performance this season as inconsistent.
“I’ve had some rough patches with my serving,’’ the Langdon-Edmore-Munich sophomore said. “It’s been hit and miss.’’
On Thursday, it was a hit. Freije had eight service aces, including six in an early 17-0 run. That spurt started the Cardinals to a 25-6, 25-12, 25-8 win over Flasher in the quarterfinal round of the North Dakota Class B state high school volleyball tournament in the Fargodome.
Flasher led just once in the match, at 1-0 in the opening set. That’s when Freije took over at the service line after a sideout and aced six times in the 17-0 spurt.
“We always try to serve aggressively,’’ Freije said. “I was kind of surprised, though. That definitely was one of my better serving runs of the season.’’
ADVERTISEMENT
Said L-E-M coach Rich Olson: “Morgan got on a role. She’s done that several times this season. She’s an aggressive server.’’
But 17 unanswered points? “Never that much of a role. You don’t expect that,’’ Olson said.
The Cardinals finished with 14 aces and scored on serves in several big runs. Langdon-E-M started the second set with nine unanswered points, with Lexi Olson getting a pair of aces. Calyn Crockett capped a 6-0 third-set run with a pair of aces to give the Cardinals a 10-2 advantage.
“That’s been a strength of our team,’’ Rich Olson said. “One through six in our serving rotation, any of those girls can get on a roll and get aces.
“It (Freije’s 17-0 serving run) settled us down right away. Everybody was anxious to get going. Morgan did a great job of setting the tempo.’’
Youth led the way for the Cardinals. In addition to Freije, who had five kills and two blocks to go with her serving, 6-foot eighth-grader Cora Badding had a match-high 10 kills.
“She’s only had double-digit kills in two matches this year,’’ Rich Olson said. “Hopefully there will be more to come. The ball was going to her today.’’
The Cardinals had advantages of 30-10 in kills, 14-1 in service aces and 8-3 in blocks. Callie Ronningen had four blocks as well as eight kills.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Flasher had some height,’’ Rich Olson said. “We blocked well. We needed to take advantage of our length, and the blocking was really solid. Callie did a great job.’’
Tymber Boldt had five kills to lead Flasher. She was the team’s only player with more than two.
Langdon-Edmore-Munich plays Our Redeemer’s in a semifinal match at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22.
FLASHER (kills-blocks-service aces): Camryn Alt 2-2-0, Coral Alt 1-1-0 (13 digs), Tymber Boldt 5-0-0 (11 digs), Faith Marion 1-0-1 (14 digs), Hannah Roth 8 assists, Leandra Schmidt 1-0-0.
LEM: Cora Badding 10-0-0, Calyn Crockett 0-1-2 (24 assists), Morgan Freije 5-2-8, Kaylee Lowery 3-1-0 (11 digs), Lexi Olson 4-0-3, Callie Ronningen 8-4-0 (11 digs), Morgan Thielbar 0-0-1.
