Round two in the battle between the Coulee Conference’s top two volleyball teams, West Salem and Luther, will take place Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Luther’s Association Center.

West Salem (11-0 Coulee) dominated the first meeting Sept. 18, winning 25-13, 25-16, 25-23. Mary Kurisch led the Panthers with 15 kills and six blocks, with setter Anna Isler distributing 27 assists and Brittany Kostecki tallying 20 digs.

“Luther is a very talented team that didn’t seem to play up to their capabilities the first time,” West Salem coach Carol Hanson said. “We’re looking for a much better match this time.”

Knights coach Kari Rosenberg said,” I am sure we will not shut Kurisch down, but we plan to play against her this time. Our passing and serving will also be better.”

Hanson said despite the somewhat surprising lopsided score in the first match, the Panthers may make some adjustments for Tuesday’s rematch.

“We’re working on some different options for their big block,” Hanson said of Luther’s front line of Courtney and Krista Hoeg, and Toni Walters. “Viroqua has improved a lot this year, too, so we can’t completely look ahead, but we’ll still need to control the net, dig the ball up consistently and do a good job of getting into our offensive systems.”

Beyond Kurisch, one of the keys to West Salem’s success this fall has been Kostecki. Hanson said Kostecki has played some at outside hitter in addition to the back row. The Knights (9=1 Coulee) have tried a similar approach at times with setter/hitter Callie Menges with some success.

“Brittany has really improved the last three weeks,” Hanson said. “We know what she can do at libero, but we thought we might need another hitter, too.

“But she’s been a rock in the back row for us. She reads the other teams offenses really well and take a lot of pride in keeping the ball up. We’ve tried some different lineups and rotations to find the lineup that we want.”

Both teams also should be well placed when seeding meetings are conducted in the next week, Sunday for Luther and Wednesday for the Panthers. The Knights look to at-worst to be the second seed in their Division 3 regional behind Mississippi Valley Conference leader Aquinas, while West Salem looks to be the top seed in their Division 2 regional. The second and third seeds in the D2 regional appear to Onalaska (8-2 MVC) and Sparta (6-5 MVC).