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Sports

North St. Paul Downs Simley in Girls Volleyball

The Simley Spartans played well but tumbled to the North High Polars in the season girls volleyball opener.

The Spartans did something they didn't do last year, and that's take a game from Classic Suburban Conference powerhouse North St. Paul.

The Spartans fought hard against the Polars on Tuesday evening in the season opener. Though they lost the match, they improved upon their previous track record with the Polars; in the last two meetings between the teams, North St. Paul garnered two 3-0 wins.

North scored a 25-15, 25-15, 24-26, 25-17 win against the Spartans on Tuesday.

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"It was a solid first match against one of the best teams in our conference," said Simley head coach Mark Kaschke. "We came out a little nervous trying to find ourselves, both as individuals and a team, but really reacted as true competitors.

"Again, in the third game, when there's nothing to lose, your true self can come out," Kasche added. "I thought our players really reached down into themselves and fought back and put them away 26-24. We showed some really good mental toughness at the end of that game because when they made the run at us, we held them off. I thought our team really reacted to a good challenge to start the season at home."

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Junior outside hitter Roda Mena led the Spartans with 12 kills. Emma Russ had 19 digs. Emily Verway had three aces.

Defensively, Olivia Ness and Abby Kain had three blocks apiece.

Simley plays at Tartan Thursday in a game starting at 7 p.m.

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