It’s a 3-peat for Lady Cards, win own invite

By Derek Hoesly

Correspondent

BRODHEAD-For the third straight year Brodhead (12-7 overall, 2-0 Rock Valley) won the Cardinal Invite. The Cardinals went a perfect 5-0 on their run to the title.

“It’s always one of our goals to be able to host a tournament and play in the gold and we got there from the morning. Then our second goal of the day was to go for first place and I think we did a nice job controlling our own side of the court and reaching both of our goals today,” coach Erin Kammerer said.

“Today felt really good. This is kind of extra special since I’m a senior. We have a lot of different goals for this year. The first one was the Janesville Craig tournament. The next one was this tournament, then we have conference, and then we have regionals. So this is another goal that we can check off our list,” Moe said.

In game one of pool play, Brodhead beat Monroe 25-13, 25-20. With the score tied at 12, Brodhead ripped off seven straight points to take control of set one. In set two the Cardinals made the plays down the stretch to seal the set. With the set even at 20, Brodhead scored the final five points as Moe had a tip and Pickel had a block and kill.

“We always talk about serving and how important getting strings of serves are to our momentum and it’s a big momentum changer when someone can step up and serve a lot,” Moe said.

The Cardinals defeated their next opponent Monticello 25-20 in set one. Brodhead controlled the tempo for most of the opening set. The Cardinals substituted frequently giving all players valuable playing time. Brodhead dominated set two from the start. Leading 7-5, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run. Boegli connected on two outside kills during the run. Moe had a string of tough serves including an ace. The Cardinals dominated the Ponies in set two winning 25-11.

In the first round of gold bracket play Brodhead took on New Glarus. The early stages were a back and forth battle, but Brodhead got separation with a 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead. Moe hammered a kill and Boegli executed a tip and kill during the spurt. The Cardinals put set one away with another 4-0 run to extend the lead to 19-12. Game one ended with the Cardinals defeating New Glarus 25-14. Brodhead jumped out to a 12-4 lead in set two. The Cardinals displayed a lot of their hitting weapons as Moe, Nyhus, Boegli and senior Cameron Novy all had kills. New Glarus cut the Cardinals’ lead to 19-16 but Brodhead responded with a game-changing 5-0 run to go up 24-16. Boegli, who had the hot hand against New Glarus, ended set two with a powerful kill down the line on the outside.

In the semifinal matchup the Cardinals faced a familiar opponent in Rock Valley south foe Beloit Turner. Brodhead stormed out to an 8-2 lead. Moe hammered two kills and a push back to the vacant back corner. The Cardinals erupted on an 8-0 run to take a commanding 16-3 lead. Nyhus connected on a kill in the middle and Pickel dialed up three aces. The Trojans trimmed the Cardinals’ lead to 19-12 on a tip by Hannah Waggoner. Brodhead answered with the next three points to halt Turner’s momentum.

The consistent Moe sparked the run with a perfectly executed tip on the outside. The Cardinals started quick again in set two taking a 12-3 lead. Senior Kalli DeLorme had a service ace and freshman Abbey Johnson executed a tip during the early barrage. Beloit Turner clawed back to slice Brodhead’s lead to 13-7. Back-to-back kills by Boegli pushed the lead to 15-8 and swung the momentum back to Brodhead. Trailing 23-18, Beloit Turner ripped off five straight points. Johnson ended set two with an exclamation point on an ace. The final score of game two was 25-23.

The Cardinals faced Evansville in the championship match. In the early stages it was a tight battle with 10 differentlead changes. With the score tied at 11, Brodhead exploded fora 9-0 run to go up 20-11. Moe had a string of excellent serves including an ace to spark the game-changing run.

In set two the Cardinals showed the heart of a champion coming back from a 20-13 deficit. Brodhead erupted for a 6-0 run to slice Evansville’s lead to 20-19. The Cardinals secured the title by scoring the next three points. Nyhus had an ace and Moe hammered a kill to close out the championship.

“This is our first opportunity we’ve had to come back and actually be successful with it so I think playing in tournaments gives you a whole bunch of different scenarios to deal with. I’m proud of the fact that they could come from behind and win,” Kammerer said.

Johnson led the Cardinals with nine aces. Pickel chipped in eight aces. Moe and Boegli led the Cardinals hitting attack with 31 kills each. Pickel added 23 kills in the tournament. Johnson had a team-high 90 assists. Moe led the Cardinals with 19 digs. Pickel and Johnson each chipped in 15 digs. Pickel led Brodhead with two blocks.

“We want conference on our own this year and we’re just going to go in there and worry about our side and worry about what we can control and see where it goes from there,” Moe said.