By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth Panthers fell victim to an upset during the quarterfinal round of the South Section 3A Volleyball Tournament in Luverne Friday.Ellsworth, the tournament’s third seed, squared off against No. 6 Fulda during the first round of the event in Luverne High School.Although the Panthers swept the Raiders during a match play in late August, the Raiders gained some revenge by besting EHS 3-1 in Friday’s tournament game.The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak the Panthers brought into the tournament, and ended Ellsworth’s 17-8 campaign.Fulda advanced to the tournament’s semifinals Monday in Luverne, where it lost a 3-1 decision to Southwest Star Concept."It was a frustrating loss for the girls and the coaching staff," said Ellsworth coach Jason Langland. "We had won eight straight matches going into the tournament, and that’s the type of momentum you want to bring into the postseason. Fulda just played really well and beat us. It was a disappointing way to end the season."All four games of the match were competitive.The Raiders pulled out a 25-22 win in the opener before taking a 2-0 lead with a 25-17 victory in the second game.Ellsworth battled back to force a fourth game by securing a 27-25 win in Game 3, but Fulda opened a 17-2 lead in Game 4 before fighting off a late challenge by the Panthers to prevail 25-20."I will say our girls didn’t give up," Langland offered. "I thought we might have a chance to come back after winning the third game, but it didn’t work out that way. The games were close, but we just couldn’t get going on offense. We couldn’t get our passes where we wanted to, and you can’t run your offense when that is happening."Lynette Drenth charted 31 set assists for EHS, while Brittney Kramer was 16 of 16 serving with eight points.Amy Tiesler, who paced the Panthers with 16 kills, completed 12 of 13 serves with one ace and six points. She also registered nine digs.Amanda Deutsch led the Panthers with 10 digs, while Laurel Drenth contributed 13 kills and eight digs to the effort. Rosie Lewis led the Panthers with 10 blocks.
