No. 10 New London makes quick work of Cardinal

NEW LONDON ? After missing Tuesday?s game against Maharishi due to an injured foot, New London outside hitter Jessica Lerdal came back with a vengeance, scoring 18 kills in the Tigers? 25-9, 25-12, 25-7 sweep of Cardinal last night.

Lerdal strained the outside of her foot in last weekend?s Southeast Iowa Superconference Tournament and sat out against Maharishi as a precaution.

?It was pretty exciting. I?m just glad I?m back,? Lerdal said. ?It felt pretty good. I just love being out there and hitting the ball. It?s fun.?

The Tigers opened the match with an 8-0 run at the start of the first game, then never ceded control to the Comets on the way to the 25-9 victory.

Cardinal took a 2-0 lead at the start of the second game, but the Tigers answered with seven consecutive points to take the lead. New London then scored 10 of the last 15 points in the game for the 25-12 victory in game two.

In the third game of the match, the Tigers jumped out to a 14-3 lead, then scored 11 of the final 15 points in the match for the win.

New London spread the ball around offensively, with three players recording eight or more kills.

?I think we came out and played really sharp. We concentrated on not making errors, and passing which allows you to do a lot of things,? said New London Head Coach Maureen Heath. ?We also focused on serving, which took them out of their game. I was really pleased with the girls.?

Spreading the ball around was a big focus for the Tigers, because Heath felt they?d become predictable in their offense.

?We tried to mix it up a little more because we set the outside and everybody knows that,? Heath said. ?When you pass well, you can move the ball around and set the middle more often. That was good to see.?

On defense, the Tigers gave up just five kills and used their passing and serving to keep the Comets from building up any consistency.

?We had some good serving runs, and our setter was distributing the ball around really well,? Heath said. ?That made it hard for them to build up a rhythm.?

Cardinal struggled to judge the ball in the opening game of the match, but co-head coach Jesse Andrews said that she saw improvement in each game.

?I was glad that our young team kept trying to adjust,? Andrews said. ?In the first game a lot of their hits hit the floor, but in the second game we were getting more touches, but half of them hit the floor. In the third game we finally started to make some passes.

?That?s what we?re trying to do, find something that we?re trying to get better at every single time.?

The win improves New London?s record to 19-4 overall, and 5-0 in the Southeast Iowa Superconference, while Cardinal falls to 6-10. Chelsea Greiner led Cardinal with 22 digs and Morgan Benson tallied a team-high three kills.

Next up for the Comets is a home game against Harmony on Tuesday.