MANKATO &8212; The Alden-Conger volleyball team made Melissa Wasmoen a winner in her coaching debut downing Mankato Loyola in four games 21-25, 25-19, 25-12, 25-22 Tuesday.

After starting the match with what their coach called &8220;first game jitters&8221; the Knights stepped up the intensity in the next three games to earn the convincing win.

Megan Miller led the Knights with 19 assists, Justine Johnson added nine kills and Krista Mathiason had 12 digs and two aces.

&8220;Our defense was pretty good but we need to work on our hitting,&8221; Wasmoen said.

A-C is back in action tonight when they host Blooming Prairie.

G-E 3, Houston 0

The Glenville-Emmons volleyball team opened its volleyball season with a three-game victory over Houston 25-22, 25-19, 25-21 Tuesday.

The Wolverines used their speed to get to a lot of Houston shots and were able to turn enough of those chances into winners.

G-E was aggressive with its serve racking up 11 aces on the night led by Danielle Cooper who was 15 of 15 with three aces. She also had a pair of kills and six digs.

Karissa Olson had six kills while Jordan Claussen and Molly Kral had four apiece. Kral led the team with 12 assists on the night.

G-E is back in action Tuesday at Mabe-Canton.

Southland 3, Albert Lea 1

The Albert Lea volleyball team played well in its first action of 2007 but came up just short in several close games Tuesday. The Tigers took the first game with Southland 25-22 before dropping the final three by just two points each 23-25, 24-26, 24-26.

Annika Smed led the Tigers with 14 kills, two blocks and eight digs. Nichelle Klatt added four kills, Krysti Cameron had six digs and Rebekah Koller added three aces.

&8220;We played really well, and the scores don&8217;t reflect how good the girls played,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Lisa Deyak said.

The Tigers are back in action Tuesday at Waseca.

USC 3, Maple River 1

The United South Central volleyball team opened its season with an impressive four-game victory over Maple River Tuesday on the road 25-13, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19.

The Rebels served at an 88 percent clip on the night and racked up 21 aces. Samantha Sonnek had eight of the aces while Ciara Christenson added six.

Shawnee Sovell and Sonnek were dominant at the net combining for 19 kills and 10 blocks between them. Sabrina Bushlack added seven kills and five blocks, while Lindsey Dahl had six kills and six blocks.

Ciara Christenson did a good job of spreading the ball around dishing out 31 assists n the night.

The Rebels are back in action tonight against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

FBA 3, NRHEG 0

New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva drew a tough opening night opponent in top-ranked Faribault Bethlehem Academy and lost 17-25, 6-25, 9-25.

The Panthers started strong in game one led by the blocking of Cailin Timm but could not pull out the game. NRHEG lost some of its aggressiveness in the final two games and FBA took advantage.

NRHEG is back in action tonight when it hosts Hayfield.