East Ridge’s Camryn Greenwald (13) is up for the kill shot Thursday night as the Raptor’s went on to beat rival Woodbury 3-0 and remain undefeated. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
The Raptors' Lauren Galvin (9) goes low to keep the ball in play in the second set of East Ridge's 3-0 defeat of rival Woodbury. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
East Ridge hasn’t faced much adversity through its first nine games of the season.
The Raptors claimed a 25-16, 25-22, 25-22 victory over intracity rival Woodbury on Thursday at Woodbury High School, keeping a season-long streak of winning every set they’ve played intact.
Like many teams this fall, East Ridge (9-0, 9-0) is often left wondering what its season could have been like if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t shortened prep sports schedules across the state. In a regular season, the Raptors would likely have scheduled many more games, including matchups with opponents who likely would hold state rankings. But this year, East Ridge, ranked No. 6 in the Class 3A coaches’ poll, has played a strictly Suburban East Conference schedule.
“Yeah, we talk about that a lot,” said assistant coach Ben Kiffmeyer, who helped fill in Thursday for head coach Steve Anderson who was out as a precaution due to a recent COVID-19 exposure. “That’s kind of the biggest bummer of the season, honestly, the tournaments and the opportunity to play out of conference.”
East Ridge’s season-long undefeated set streak remains intact after a 25-16, 25-22, 25-22 victory over Suburban East Conference and intracity rival Woodbury on Thursday evening at Woodbury High School.
But the feat did not come without a challenge.
East Ridge (9-0, 9-0) needed to battle back from deficits in both the second and third sets to stay unbeaten in the pandemic-shortened regular season.
After the Raptors, ranked No. 6 in the Class 3A coaches’ poll, triumphed in the opening set, Woodbury (6-3, 6-3) led for most of the second set before East Ridge’s 25-22 win. In the third, Woodbury again jumped ahead immediately thanks to a 6-0 run. But the Raptors battled back once more to even the score at 21 apiece before prevailing 25-22.
Lauren Galvin led the Raptors with 15 kills. Woodbury’s Kameron Monson finished with nine kills.
Woodbury outside hitter Kameron Monson (10) keeps the ball alive in the third set during the Royals' 3-0 loss to the unbeaten Raptors. Photo by Earl J. Ebensteiner, SportsEngine
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