Dacia Fleury and Mya VanLuik had 17 kills each to lead the Minnewaska Area volleyball team to a four-game win at West Central Area, Thursday night in a key conference match.

The Lakers, who also swept Benson at home last Tuesday, improved to 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference with their latest wins.

Minnewaska is one match back of Sauk Centre in the WCC standings and a half-game up over WCA for second place with Melrose and BOLD tied for fourth.  

The Lakers fell to Sauk Centre, ranked sixth in state Class AA, in five games during the second match of the season.

This week, the Lakers have two home matches beginning with a match Tuesday (tomorrow) against Montevideo and continuing Thursday with a rematch against the WCA Knights.

In the early Section 6AA standings, Albany (15-0), Sauk Centre (12-2) and Royalton (14-4) are the top three seeds currently, while the Lakers are among four or five teams battling for the fourth seed among 14 section teams.

Minnewaska 3, Benson 0

The Lakers improved to 8-2 overall with a dominating 25-5, 25-8, 25-11 victory over Benson last Tuesday night at home.

Mya VanLuik, Addy Kath and Dacia Fleury were among the leaders for the Lakers.  

VanLuik led the Lakers with nine kills and eight digs and also had two blocks, while Kath had seven kills and two blocks, and Fleury had another great all-around match with five kills, three ace-serves, three set assists and four digs.

VanLuik and Kath were unstoppable at the net.  VanLuik did not miss any attacks, ending the match with a kill percentage of 69 percent, while Kath was 8-of-9 on attacks with seven kills and a kill percentage of 67 percent.  Wow!

Overall, the Lakers had a kill percentage of 44 percent with Emma Hellerman chipping in with four kills, Avery Lewison adding three and Berlynn Green and Haillie Schulz ending the match with two kills each.

Schulz also had 24 set assists and 1.5 blocks, while Lewison had a team-high three blocks and Brooklyn Noyes tied with VanLuik for the team lead with eight digs.

Minnewaska 3, WCA 1

The Lakers had 14.5 blocks and a kill percentage of 13 percent during a 25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23 victory at WCA, Thursday night.

Dacia Fleury and Mya VanLuik both pounded down 17 kills and had two blocks to lead a strong effort by the Lakers, while Emma Hellermann added five kills, Haillie Schulz had four and Berlynn Green and Avery Lewison both pounded down two.

The Lakers served at a 95 percent clip with Green, Brooklyn Noyes, Fleury, Eliana Marthaler and Schulz all registering one ace-serve each.

Four Lakers had double-digit digs, including Fleury with 21, Schulz with 14 and Emma Poegel and Green with 12 each, while Schulz put up 40 set assists.

In addition, the strong net play for the Lakers included 3.5 blocks each by Lewison, Hellermann and Schulz.

Waska 3, at Morris Area 0

Benson 5 8 11

Minnewaska (8-2) 25 25 25

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving (aces):   Dacia Fleury 3, Berlynn Green 1, Brooklyn Noyes 1 . . team 95% . . . Set assists:  Haillie Schulz 24, Fleury 3, Noyes 1, Mya VanLuik 1

Hitting:  VanLuik 13-13-9, Addy Kath 8-9-7, Fleury 15-18-5, Emma Hellermann 5-6-4, Avery Lewison 4-5-3, Green 4-4-2, Schulz 3-4-2, Eliana Marthaler 1-1-1, Noyes 2-2-1 . . . Digs:  Noyes 8, VanLuik 8, Emma Poegel 5, Fleury 4, Schulz 2, Green 2, Lewison 1. . . Blocks (aces):  Lewison 3, VanLuik 2, Kath 2, Hellermann 2, Schulz 1.5, Fleury 1

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Minnewaska 3, at WCA 1

Waska (9-2) 25 23 25 25

West Central Area 18 25 19 23

WASKA STATS  (good-attempts-aces):  Serving (aces):   Berlynn Green 1, Brooklyn Noyes 1, Dacia Fleury 1, Eliana Marthaler 1, Haillie Schulz 1 . . team 95% . . . Set assists:  Schulz 40, Fleury 3, Green 2, Avery Lewison 1, Addy Kath 1

Hitting:  Fleury 46-52-17, Mya VanLuik 33-42-17, Emma Hellermann 10-12-5, Schulz 18-19-4, Green 5-6-2, Lewison 11-14-2, Kath 13-13-1 . . . Digs: Fleury 21, Schulz 14, Emma Poegel 12, Green 12, Marthaler 9, Noyes 8, VanLuik 4, Hellermann 2, Kath 2, Lewison 1. . . Blocks (aces):  Lewison 3.5, Hellermann 3.5, Schulz 3.5, Fleury 2, VanLuik 2