Abraham Lincoln swept away the competition at a volleyball triangular it hosted Monday night, topping Tri-Center 21-19, 21-15 and St. Albert 21-13, 21-13 at the A.L. Fieldhouse.

Tri-Center topped St. Albert 21-11, 21-16 in the night's other match, leaving the Saintes 0-2 for the night.

"Serving was not a very good spot for us in both matches. We struggled for some reason (with) serving and passing," St. Albert coach Angie Lantz said, adding that "we dug ourselves a pretty big hole. Tonight wasn't a very good night for us.

"Hopefully we can put that behind us."

Despite the loss, Natalie Andrews put together a solid all-around effort with 10 digs and nine assists, Caitlin Finn had five ace serves and nine digs and Becca Gradoville led the way up front with nine kills.

Tri-Center salvaged a split on the night, rebounding from the loss to A.L. to top St. Albert.

"We turned around and played better against St. Albert," Tri-Center coach Brian Wedemeyer said. "We didn't make many hitting errors against them ... it was one of the better hitting efficiency matches."

The opposite was true against A.L., where the Trojans struggled at the net.

"A.L.'s a tough team. We made too many hitting errors and they just exposed our weakness," Wedemeyer said. "They had great ball control, they kept the pressure on us and we had to be too defensive."

Lisa Minahan had a team-high eight kills and was 10-for-10 serving with two aces, while Devon Ausdemore was 15-for-15 from the service line with a pair of aces and added seven kills. Emily Schroeder pulled up 28 digs and Kelsey Messerschmidt doled out 26 set assists.

Abraham Lincoln statistics were not available as of press time.

Abraham Lincoln 21 21

Tri-Center 19 15

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Abraham Lincoln 21 21

St. Albert 13 13

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Tri-Center 21 21

St. Albert 11 16

Tri-Center: Kills: Lyndy Armstrong 7, Devon Ausdemore 7, Becky Barrier 2, Kelsey Messerschmidt 2, Lisa Minahan 8, Carly Siebels 5. Blocks: Siebels 3. Serving: Armstrong 8-8, Ausdemore 15-15 (2 aces), Barrier 11-11, Messerschmidt 15-16 (1), Minahan 10-10 (2), Emily Schroeder 10-10. Set Assists: Messerschmidt 26, Armstrong 6. Digs: Schroeder 28, Minahan 16, Ausdemore 15, Armstrong 21.

St. Albert: Serving: Natalie Andrews 8-10, Becca Gradoville 6-7 (1 ace), Krista Kennebeck 4-5, Caitlin Finn 6-7 (5), Lauren Kennebeck 5-8 (1), Shelby McGinn 2-5, Caitlin Cool 5-6 (1). Attacking: Jordan McBride 13-14 (3 kills), Gradoville 22-27 (9), Morgan Wickersham 6-8 (1), Kelsey Knudsen 6-7, K. Kennebeck 17-21 (2), Finn 1-1, Taylor Russell 10-12 (4). Assists: Andrews 9, Gradoville 2, L. Kennebeck 7, Digs: Andrews 10, Gradoville 4, Wickersham 2, K. Kennebeck 7, Finn 9, L. Kennebeck 3, Cool 2. Blocks: Wickersham 2, Russell 3.

Records: Tri-Center (8-2), St. Albert (6-7).

~Daily Nonpareil~ 09.12.06