With Stewartville showdown looming, K-M hits its stride

Throughout the season, the Kasson-Mantorville volleyball team has been focused on taking things one game at a time and continuing to get better. As the games and the victories piled up for the KoMets, there was one game at the end of the schedule that kept getting bigger and bigger.

On October 16, the KoMets will host Stewartville in what could be a de facto HVL conference championship game and a preview of a potential section tournament matchup between the top two teams in Class AA. However, why would K-M deviate from a plan that saw them rack up another conference victory against Byron last week?

“Our focus is on improving every day in practice and then going to battle every time we’re on the court, regardless of opponent,” K-M volleyball head coach Adam VanOort said. “We’ve got Triton coming up this week and a tournament in Apple Valley this weekend, so we’re focused on that.”

The KoMets’ case of tunnel vision paid dividends against the Bears as they took control from the opening serve. K-M also showed a tremendous amount of depth with Peyton Suess leading the way with 14

kills, seven digs and two aces and Maddie Converse setting up her teammates with 26 assists.

With aroline Braun (six digs, four kills), Addison Bzoskie (five kills), Emilee Terry (nine kills), Mya Suess (six kills), Bailey Berge (11 digs, two aces) also playing a role, the KoMets are a team that poses plenty of matchup problems.

“We’ve got a lot of depth and a lot of players that can play well in different spots on the court,” VanOort said. “That enables us to match up

against a lot of teams well and hopefully neutralize some of their strengths.”

While the KoMets are wearing blinders to their big conference showdown, they are starting to make

everybody else pay attention. The win over Byron was K-M’s 14th victory in a row and ran their overall record to 20-2 (8-0 HVL). That success shows that the KoMets are stepping up

as a team at the time where it matters the most.

“Everyone on the team has really stepped up the last few weeks in practice,” VanOort said. “They have all been coming in ready to work and improve every day. This feels like a team that knows what it takes t willing to

do it.”