The Newman Catholic Knights hosted the Eagles in Mason City on Tuesday evening, the 11th of October, for a four set matchup that ended up being a hard fight for both teams, although the Eagles managed to prevail 3 to 1. The Eagles hit the wood with a 2-16 record while the Knights entered at 8-16, both in the Top of Iowa conference.
The first set was an edge of the seat cliffhanger, with the Eagles getting to 24 before the Knights could get a two point lead. Play therefore pushed past the normal winner's threshold to 26, which the Knights managed to end the set.
The Eagles took a commanding lead in the second set, crossing the 25 point line while the Knights were down 7 at 18. But the remaining two sets were much closer, at 25 to 23 each. Barely giving the Eagles the win at the normal line in the final sets.
Set by set it's a narrow victory for the Eagles. But taken as a match it's a drubbing for the Knights. Matchwise, Eagles controlled the play in metric after metric, leading in assists 20-18 and kills 27-21, while dominating in kill attempts 116-86, digs at 70-22, and especially serves, with 98 attempts to 79, 80-66 successes, and a whopping 8 aces to 1, with an overall efficiency of 91.8% to 83.5%.
Leading eagles were Maddison Kaiser, Braxton Steil, Addyson Jeske, and Tarissa Middleton. MVP Steil led in both blocks and digs, with 2 blocks and 13 digs. Kaiser led in assists with 13. Middleton led in aces with 3.
