By John Rittenhouse
Ellsworth was unable to advance out of the quarterfinal round of the South Section 3A Volleyball Tournament when post-season play opened in Luverne Friday.
Playing No. 2 Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster at Luverne High School, a sub-par performance by the seventh-seeded Panthers led to a 3-0 defeat.
The Raiders advanced to Tuesday's semifinals with the victory, while Ellsworth’s 4-15-6 campaign came to a close.
Ellsworth coach Jason Langland was hoping the Panthers would break a trend when they played the Raiders, but it didn't happen.
The Panthers had lost three matches to SV-RL-B during the regular season (3-1 at home, 2-0 at the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Tournament, and 3-0 at the Harris-Lake Park Tournament), and the EHS coach was seeking revenge.
EHS, however, never put anything together on the floor while being outscored 45-15 on a neutral floor.
"We had four days to prepare for the match, but we came out really flat," Langland said. "The energy was never there. We were letting balls drop to the floor that never should have. We were not aggressive at all, and we never got our offense going."
Langland stressed the importance of keeping serves in play prior to the match, but his players didn't respond. Ellsworth missed 10 serves in a three-game match, and nine came during a 15-4 loss in Game 1.
"Serving killed us. We missed nine serves in the first game, and that pretty much set the tone for how we would play for the rest of the match. Losing the first game took the wind out of our sails and we never recovered from it," he said.
The Panthers did a better job of keeping their serves in play the rest of the match, but it didn't help their cause.
SV-RL-B toppled EHS 15-2 and 15-9 in Games 2 and 3 to complete a 3-0 sweep.
Brittney Kramer and Jenna Groen led the Panthers with six and five kills respectively during the match. Laci DeLeeuw charted six set assists.