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RANDOLPH — The Randolph Lady Cardinals grabbed momentum at home Sept. 15, rallying past Madison for their second win of the season, then nearly forced a fifth set against Wausa three nights later.
Randolph dropped the opening set to Madison, 25-22, but responded 25-19, 25-17 to take the best-of-three. The victory gave the Lady Cards two wins this fall — both against larger Class C1 opponents.
On Sept. 18, Randolph fell to Wausa 25-20, 25-19, 14-25, 27-25 in a best-of-five. After a slow start, the Lady Cards surged, blasting the third set 25-14 and pushing the fourth to extra points.
“It took us a set to get going against Wausa, but once we settled in we played so hard and so well,” coach Lyndsee English said. “I was extremely proud of the girls.”
Serving and defense led the week. Ella Graf and Delayne Thelen fired five aces apiece vs. Wausa, while libero Alexis Backhaus stacked 19 digs and 27 serve-receives. Mabel Ngebeh paced the attack with six kills against Wausa and seven against Madison; Abby Backer added seven vs. Madison and six vs. Bloomfield.
Randolph dropped its other triangular match to Bloomfield, 25-13, 25-18.
Up next: at Walthill on Sept. 23; at O’Neill St. Mary’s on Sept. 25; home vs. Creighton on Sept. 30.
Wausa 2525 14 27 Randolph 2019 25 25 k = kills, a = aces, b = blocks, d = digs, s = assists, r = serve-receives RANDOLPH: Peyton Thelen 5k, 3b, 2d; Ella Graf 5a, 7d, 16s; Lilly Kuchta 5d, 9r; Abby Backer 3k, 1b, 1d, 1s, 1r; Addyson Wattier 2d; Mabel Ngebeh 6k, 2b, 8d, 14r; Brooke Meier 3k, 1b, 6d, 16r; Jenna Guenther 4k, 1b, 1d; Delayne Thelen 5a, 1d; Alexis Backhaus 19d, 3s, 27r. Bloomfield 25 25 Randolph 13 18 RANDOLPH: P. Thelen 2r; Jaden Dickes 1d; Graf 1a, 4d, 3s; Kuchta 1a, 3r; Backer 6k, 1d; Alaina Schulz 1k; Sydney Robinson 2k; Ngebeh 5d, 8r; Meier 5s; Guenther 2k, 1d; D. Thelen 4d, 2r; Backhaus 1d, 17r. Randolph 22 25 25 Madison 25 19 17 RANDOLPH: P. Thelen 2k, 1d; Graf 3d, 10s; Kuchta 17d, 8r; Backer 7k, 1d; Schulz 5k, 1d, 1r; Robinson 3k; Wattier 6d, 2r; Ngebeh 7k, 1a, 9d, 1s, 13r; Meier 3k, 3a, 4d, 16s; Guenther 5k, 1a, 1b, 1d; D. Thelen 2a, 6d, 5r; Backhaus 1k, 1a, 17d, 3s, 24r.
