Gehlen Catholic volleyball won a hard-fought match with MMCRU on Tuesday night in four sets to remain unbeaten in War Eagle Conference play.
The win snaps a three-match losing streak that included an 0-3 performance at the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn tournament on Saturday. Gehlen Catholic head coach Dan Goebel says things were just a lot better than they were on Saturday.
MMCRU took the first set of the match by a score of 28-26. It was the first time they had taken a set from the Jays since 2021. It was also a pleasant deviation from the norm that had been set at the beginning of the year with the Royals struggling mightily earlier in the season. MMCRU head coach Heather Youde says this match was a sign that the girls are starting to come together more as a team.
The next three sets were some dogfights that saw two of them go past the 25-point mark to win. Gehlen Catholic won all three sets by scores of 25-19, 27-25, and 27-25. Coach Youde says the Royals were challenged to fight hard all the way through the sets, and she was happy to see them do that.
Those close sets that went back and forth were a positive for Gehlen Catholic too. Coach Goebel says it was a great test for the girls on what they had learned after a rough weekend tournament.
MMCRU fell to 1-6 in the conference and 6-12 overall with the loss. While it is a loss on the scoreboard, it did not feel like a loss for the Royals in the sense that they took a big step in the right direction. Coach Youde says she hopes it will give the girls some confidence heading into the final three matches of the regular season.
Gehlen Catholic ups their conference record to 6-0 with the win, and they are 12-9 overall. The Jays will have ranked opponents all next week with a matchup against No. 14 Akron-Westfield and No. 5 Hinton. Coach Goebel says confidence will be key for his team too, and this win showed them what they can do with that confidence.
Both of Gehlen Catholic’s matches next week will be broadcast live on KLEM Radio.
