ARLINGTON – There’s not much that Madeline Guetzkow can’t do on the volleyball court. She’s asked to do a lot and does it all with a smile and that’s been a huge positive for the Mayer Lutheran volleyball team this season as they picked up their second-straight sweep to open the postseason with a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-10) win over New Ulm Cathedral Monday night.
“She’s so athletic and it’s fun to watch her,” Mayer Lutheran coach Joelle Grimsley said. “You can put her anywhere. She will just do it. That’s what is fun about it.”
Guetzkow did a little bit of everything for the Crusaders in the win. Whether in the front row setting and racking up kills, or in the back row helping run the offense, Guetzkow was there for her teammates.
“Just being able to step up and provide for my teammates in all six rotations is really nice,” she said. “I just want to make a play wherever I am.”
Mayer Lutheran came out swinging in set one. A 9-0 run midway through the set propelled the Crusaders to a 25-12 win to gain the edge early on.
“We tried to keep it as fast as we could tonight,” Grimsley said. “We knew there would be some free balls coming over so we tried to keep it fast.”
Big runs in each set helped Mayer Lutheran pick up the sweep as New Ulm Cathedral struggled to keep pace. Even though the Crusaders took care of business with a sweep, Grimsley is looking for consistent energy from start to finish from her team.
“That’s what we need all the time,” Grimsley said. “We need that energy. Tonight, for some reason, it only seemed like we had it for those long runs. It was just a bit slow otherwise. We’ve got to pick up the pace when we can.”
“We know that we can keep a fast tempo,” Guetzkow added. “It just slows down the other team and helps create our offense. When we do that, we’re really good.”
Being the No. 1 ranked team in Class A all season long can put some pressure on a team. Instead of worrying about that, Mayer Lutheran is focused on themselves and doing what they do best.
“We always say anyone can win on any given night,” Guetzkow said. “We just have to play as us. We know how we play so we know we can do it. We talk a lot about our work ethic in practice. We can really see it now in our games.”
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Follow Kip Kovar on Twitter: @Kovar_HJSports