GLYNDON, Minn. - Mandy Mercil said at times this season her jump serve has been be inconsistent.
She was locked in Thursday night.
The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton sophomore had nine aces to spark the Rebels to a 25-11, 25-7, 25-12 victory against Park Rapids in the first round of the Minnesota Class 2A, Section 8 volleyball tournament.
"Mandy has been our ace leader all season and she's pretty consistent on it for only being a sophomore," Rebels coach Tessa Tysver said. "She works really hard at it and she did a great job tonight."
Top-seeded D-G-F (22-5) plays host to No. 4 seed Warroad at 7 p.m. today.
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The Rebels got off to fast starts in all three sets against Park Rapids. D-G-F built an 8-2 lead in Set 1, an 11-4 lead in Set 2 and a 12-2 lead in Set 3.
"We knew from the beginning that we would have to go out hard because it's playoffs and anything can happen," Mercil said.
D-G-F served solid throughout the match, finishing with 17 aces. Rebels senior hitter Kaylee Pender had four aces to go along with Mercil's nine.
"We've been trying to work on consistent serving in practice because we know it's one of our weaknesses," Mercil said.
The Rebels scored to final 13 points of the second set behind Mercil. She served the final 12 points of that set, including four aces.
Tysver was pleased with the way her team didn't let up after building early leads in each of the three sets.
"They've learned that they can't relax when they have a lead because they have done that too many times this year, just pushing through that," said Tysver said. "I thought we played consistent all night. I think it gives them confidence."
PARK RAPIDS (kills-blocks-aces): Grimes 3-0-0, M. Rittgers 5-0-0, Jerger 2-0-0, Bateman 1-0-0 (4 assists), Domino 3-0-0 (11 digs), Vaadeland 1-0-0, Vaudrin 0-1-0 (4 assists).
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DGF: K. Pender 4-5-4, Yliniemi 7-1-0, Ricard 3-0-0, Anderson 0-0-2 (10 assists), Brinkman 3-0-2 (14 digs), Casler 2-0-0, Frink 3-1-0, Tigue 3-1-0, Mercil 4-0-9 (12 assists), Senske 0-1-0, Molstre 1-0-0.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Eric Peterson at (701) 241-5513. Peterson's blogs can be found at www.areavoices.com
