WASECA – The confidence continues to grow for the Albert Lea High School volleyball team.

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

WASECA – The confidence continues to grow for the Albert Lea High School volleyball team.

And so does the victory total.

The Tigers won for the third consecutive time Tuesday night, sweeping Waseca 3-0 in a nonconference match in the Bluejays’ gym. The game scores were 15-6, 15-12, 15-9.

Just as no one could say when the Tigers last won a Big Nine match, as they did last week against Rochester John Marshall to snap a long skid, nobody seemed to know when the ALHS girls last won three in a row. They improved to 5-7 overall.

&uot;The girls are gaining the appropriate confidence,&uot; said first-year head coach Gina Eppen. &uot;It seems to me as if we’re playing good volleyball at the right time of the season.&uot;

The Tigers had their best serving of the season at Waseca, going 68-for-71 with six aces.

They built big leads in the first two games but, according to Eppen, stalled on 13 points for longer than she’d prefer in both.

Albert Lea trailed 7-0 to start game three.

&uot;We called a time out, and the girls just went back out there and really took charge,&uot; said Eppen. &uot;They had the confidence to get the lead and close out the game. It was real nice to see the girls pull together like that.&uot;

The Tigers’ statistical leaders: Whitney Sorensen, 11 kills, four blocks, four digs, three aces: Jenny Vanderploeg, seven kills, two blocks, 11 digs, one ace; Aubree Page, six kills, three blocks, nine digs; Amie Hartman, five kills, one block, five digs, one ace; Beth Kolling, 13 assists, five kills, five blocks, five digs, one ace; Kelly Anderson, 18-for-18 serving, eight assists, one dig; Amanda Arendt, four kills, one assist, one dig.

The Tigers aim to improve on their 1-3 Big Nine record at Faribault Thursday.