By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ARMSTRONG—Strong serving as a team was a huge key for the North Union Warriors’ volleyball squad in a three-set Top of Iowa Conference victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The green-black-and-silver went 73 of 74 during the evening as a team for 98.6 percent with seven serving aces while the visitors went 51 of 55 for 92.7 percent with eight aces.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

PERRY—Ella Welp continued to turn in impressive performances for the Algona swim team as she won a pair of events on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at Perry.

Welp rewrote a school record she set earlier in the season in the 50-yard freestyle race with her winning time of 26.32 and also took the 100-yard freestyle event in 58.60.

ALGONA—Algona picked up a key North Central Conference volleyball victory on Thursday, Sept. 14 with a win over the Webster City Lynx in four hard fought sets.

The home team cruised to a 25-11 victory in the opening game but things were very tight in the match from that point on.

LAKE CITY—West Bend-Mallard went on the road on Thursday, Sept. 14 and split a pair of Twin Lakes Conference volleyball matches.

The purple-and-gold defeated the Emmetsburg E-Hawks by the score of 25-23, 28-26 and 25-5 but fell to the South Central Calhoun Titans 19-25, 19-25 and 18-25.

In the win over the E-Hawks, Kierstin Montag pounded home 21 kills to lead the way while teammate Allie Fehr had 10 kills.

SIOUX RAPIDS—Both Silas Bindel and Grayden Forsythe ran their season bests to highlight the performances of the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams on Thursday, Sept. 14 at the Sioux Central Invitational.

Bindel crossed the finish line in 56^th place with a clocking of 20:20.31 while Forsythe stopped the watches at 21:10.52 for 70^th place overall.

HUMBOLDT—With all seven runners finishing in the top 26, the Algona Bulldog boys’ cross-country team won the team title on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Humboldt Invitational ran at the Joe Sheldon Park.

The red-and-black won the meet with a team score of 56 points as Bishop Garrigan finished in 11th place with a 310 while both North Union and West Bend-Mallard did not have enough runners to establish a team score.

HUMBOLDT—Jacey Welbig of North Union placed third overall to highlight the performances of the four area girls’ cross-country squads at Joe Sheldon Park on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Humboldt Invitational.

Welbig crossed the finish line with a time of 22:02.28 while Algona’s Mara Davis also finished in the top 10 in sixth place at 22:13.56.

STORM LAKE—Mara Davis placed sixth overall to highlight the performances of the Algona boys’ and girls’ cross-country squads at the Storm Lake Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Davis crossed the finish line with a clocking of 20:48.56 as Hayden Kuhlmann was 31^st in 22:58.89 and Malyn Davis ended up in 43^rd place with a time of 23:52.50.

ROCK VALLEY—Not even an 80-minute lightening delay could slow down the high-powered Algona football team in a convincing 53-20 non-district football win over the Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley Nighthawks on Friday, Sept. 15.

The red-and-black got a huge night from Tate Slagle along with the usual performances from Porter Reffer, Alex Manske and Jayden Erpelding to improve to 3-1 overall on the year.

BRITT—North Union held a 7-6 lead early but it was all West Hancock after that as the Eagles rolled to a 49-7 Class A district football win over the green-black-and-silver on Friday, Sept. 15.

The home team started the game’s scoring halfway through the opening 12 minutes of action on a 31-yard touchdown pass play.

RUTHVEN—West Bend-Mallard made a statement in eight-man district football action on Friday, Sept. 15 as the purple-and-gold rolled past sixth-ranked and undefeated Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire by the score of 58-18.

The visitors took control of the contest in the opening half by dominating the line of scrimmage to build a 28-0 halftime lead. The purple-and-gold limited the home team just five yards rushing during the game.

SIOUX CITY—Bishop Garrigan was matched up with some talented teams, including three ranked teams on Saturday, Sept. 16 in the annual CYO volleyball tournament.

The black-and-gold went 1-4 during the day with their only match of the day coming against the St. Edmond Gaels by the score of 21-17, 10-21 and 15-13.

ALGONA—Storm Lake won the opening set but Algona roared back to win the next three games to take a non-conference home volleyball match on Tuesday, Sept. 12 over the Tornadoes.

The visitors won the first game by the score 23-25 before the red-and-black rallied back to take the next three close sets by the scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-20.

Both Najolie Price and Lauren McLaughlin pounded down 11 kills in the contest closely followed by Lainey Venteicher with 10 kills.

FOREST CITY—Algona was competitive but could not find the win column as the red-and-black went 0-5 at the Forest City Invitational volleyball tournament on Saturday, Sept. 16.

The Bulldogs fell to 13th ranked (1A) Saint Ansgar by the scores of 19-21 and 16-21 before losing to Webster City by the count of 15-21 and 20-22.

GRAETTINGER—Winning all five of their matches, the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines won first place at the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Invitational held on Saturday, Sept. 16.

North Union finished in second place with a 4-1 with their only loss of the day coming to West Bend-Mallard in the final match of the tournament.

The Wolverines defeated Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in their closest match of the day by the scores of 21-18, 22-24 and 15-12.