Cannon Falls Volleyball Out-Defends Kenyon-Wanamingo

The Cannon Falls Bomber court coverage in the Hangar on Monday night was nothing short of spectacular.

The Bombers swept Class AA No.5-ranked Kenyon-Wanamingo by scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-21, and ended the Knights' hopes of running the table in the Hiawatha Valley League.

Kenyon-Wanamingo had leads in every set, but could not pull away or put away Cannon Falls.

The Knights jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set and 4-1 lead in the second and, at one point, had a 17-13 lead in the third.

A powerful motivator for the Bombers was the fact it was senior night and the four seniors wanted to have their last conference match at home be a memorable one.

Boy was it ever. Seniors Danielle Hansen, Callie Loeschke, Katie Noble and Hailey Huseth certainly led the way.

Cannon Falls head coach Melissa Huseth told KDHL after the match that every single player, including those on the bench, contributed to the victory in some way, and said the win over a very good Kenyon-Wanamingo team should be a confidence booster for her squad.

The Knights needed a win Monday and a win this Thursday to capture the HVL Conference title by themselves. Now they need a win Thursday to tie for the title with Stewartville. Thursday's match at home against Zumbrota-Mazeppa will be on KDHL Radio.

Cannon Falls simply picked up every ball that was smashed, tipped or pushed their way, and during a stretch of points in the third set, sophomore libero Tatum Pickar wasn't just in a zone, she was in another stratosphere.

During one point in particular she picked up crushed shots by Mara Quam and Megan Flom and turned them into good passes to her setters while looking as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Bomber Katie Noble was able to connect on a number of points with the slide. Callie Loeschke served up three straight aces in the first set and finished with four on the night. Noble tallied an ace and Hailey Huseth had the other ace serve and, in addition to a number of assists, was able to become an attacker at the net.

Kenyon-Wanamingo had a number of hitting errors in the first couple of sets in particular and finished with five service errors.

It was not their usual night, but credit a lot of that to the aggressiveness of Cannon Falls and the Bomber court coverage may have led to some of those hitting mistakes by the Knights.

Kenyon-Wanamingo head coach Jen Nerison says hopefully her team learns from the loss to the team her older sister coaches.

The Knights are now 26-4 and the Bombers 18-9 on the season.

Cannon Falls travels to Lake City to close out their regular season this Thursday.

In other HVL matches Monday night, Stewartville swept Pine Island, Goodhue defeated Zumbrota-Mazeppa in straight setts, Rochester Lourdes swept Lake City and Triton swept Byron.

In other matches, the Faribault Bethlehem Academy Cardinals outlasted Owatonna in a five-set thriller. Owatonna won the first set 28-26, BA captured the second 25-23, Owatonna cruised to a 25-10 win in the third and the Cardinals won the next two sets 25-20 and 15-10.

Lanesboro bested Randolph in four sets, Mankato West downed Lake Crystal Welcome Memorial in three, Alden-Conger swept Maple River, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown defeated Waseca in three sets and Le Sueur-Hederson was victorious in four sets over Holy Family Catholic.