The Stewartville Tigers came into Monday night's match in Medford with their #1 Class AA state ranking due in part to only losing 4 sets all year.  The Class 1A #9 rated Medford Tigers certainly competed at a high level and won a set.

Stewartville won the first two sets by scores of 25-16, 25-13 before Medford had a 17-11 lead in set 4 and hung on to hand the Tigers of Stewartville only their 5th set loss of the season.

Stewartville had to work hard to win the first set with Medford who enjoyed a lead midway through.  There were some long points and super hustle plays by both teams.

Set two also started out close with Stewartville eventually pulling away.

Set three the Medford Tigers had a 17-11 lead become a 21-20 deficit before winning 25-23.

The Stewartville Tigers became more efficient in the fourth set and pulled away 25-13.

Medford Head Coach Missy Underdahl liked what she saw from her Tigers.  Very few hitting errors in the match.

Stewartville served very aggressively.  They had 11 service errors through the first three sets and eliminated those entirely in the fourth set.  The top ranked Class 2A team finished the night with 6 ace serves.

It's so hard to block a shot taken by 6'3 junior Erin Lamb when she gets a high set.  Lamb plays all the way around.  She is an exceptional back row player also, showing her athleticism with many digs and pinpoint passes from the back.

I had Lamb with 17 kills (just one in the 3rd set loss) and 6'0 senior Kaitlyn Prondzinski with 20 kills.  Both mix their attacks up beautifully between tips and power shots.

My unofficial statistics had senior Emma Kniefel lead Medford with 13 kills and junior Kinsey Cronin add 12 kills.

It was senior night and before the match the five Medford seniors were honored with maroon and gold flowers and some goodie baskets.

Seniors include setter Morgan Langeslag with plans of attending college, studying forensic science.

Emma Kniefel plans to attend college and is unsure of her course of study.

Libero Kiley Nihart will be attending college with no mention of a major in her bio.

Izzy Reuvers wants to attend college to become a teacher.

Alyvia Johnson will attend Southwest Minnesota State University and play volleyball.

Stewartville is home against Pine Island Tuesday night and then has a showdown with #3 Class 2A Kasson-Mantorville in Stewartville next Tuesday.

Medford travels to Bethlehem Academy Thursday.  The match will be on KDHL Radio.  Also the KDHL app.

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