Pointers down Darlington, Cuba City to stay unbeaten in SWAL w

Mineral Point stayed unbeaten in SWAL play with a sweep of the rival Redbirds Thursday.

The match finished with set scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-16 as the Pointers swept Darlington

 Mineral Point was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 16 aces. 

Mineral Point's win moved their record up to 22-3.

“Our girls played really well on Thursday night and played much more poised than the Southwestern match,” said coach Kari Kabat.  “Defense and passing was much crisper and our connection with setters was much better as well.  It was just an overall great team win.”

To make it better the strong performance took place before the home crowd.

 “It was great to finally play well at home and give our crowd a taste of the team,” Kabat said.  “We have been on the road and tournaments that most of them didn't get to see.”  

“We also had a big milestone to celebrate on Thursday night,” the coach added. “Maddy Kabat went over 1000 kills and digs, which is the first in school history to hit both together.  I am just so proud of our girls for playing for each other and together.”  

Then Tuesday the Pointers took down Cuba City in a battle of unbeatens,  and won 3-2.  They lost the first two sets then stormed back to close out the final three with wins.

The Cubans won the first two 25-15, 25-20 then it was Mineral Point’s turn.  They won set three, four and five 25-21, 27-25 and 15-9.

“Tuesday was a battle between two strong competitive teams and conference rivals.  There is always so much energy in the gym and so much anticipation and weight given to this matchup,” Kabat noted.  “This one was no different.  We played really tense and nervous in the first two sets.  We are still working through our younger players mental toughness in big matches.  We started really slow, giving up 14 points in set one to our unforced errors.  Set two was a lot of the same.  We didn't settle into a rhythm until set three.  It was still a battle back and forth.  Our girls really started showing up for each other in set three, and kept their composure much better through the rest of the match.  Even when we were up in set four, and they came back, our girls rallied together and put the ball away in key moments. Set five, we really controlled the set early and while there were some back and forth, we just kept looking forward.”  

“It was a big win to come back in the reverse sweep,” Kabat said.  “I am so incredibly proud of all the girls.  Tenleigh Bockhop really stepped up and had some huge blocks in key moments tonight, and was really clutch from the service line. Our girls just really need to play loose and not get in their heads in these big matchups.  It was a big win during our Homecoming week.”  

STATS vs DARLINGTON

Kills

Maddy Kabat 16

Brynn Swenson 9

Kinlee Prust 7

Aces

Tenleigh Bockhop 6

Ava Ingwell 4

Blocks

Kinlee Prust 2

Digs

Ava Ingwell 11

Brynn Swenson 10

Assists

Sophie Miller 21

Sadie Miller 15

STATS vs CUBA CITY

Kills - Maddy Kabat 19, Brynn Swenson 17

Assists - Sophie Miller & Sadie Miller 23ea.

Aces - Sadie Miller 5, Tenleigh Bockhop 4

Blocks - Kinlee Prust 3, Tenleigh Bockhop 2

Digs - Brynn Swenson 21, Ava Ingwell 18