Carrie Moritz, Gazette
Volleyball season has gotten off to a great start, with the Garretson Varsity team netting their first win on Tuesday, August 22, bringing home a win on Thursday against Beresford, and taking the W on three out of four games in the Canton Tournament this past weekend.
For Head Coach Lauren Stoterau, variety is the strength of this year's team. "We have many athletes that can play different positions, which is extremely important if we want to be versatile and switch things up depending on who we're playing against," she said. "We are in a very tough region, with Sioux Falls Christian, Dell Rapids, Baltic, and Madison, so we're excited to be able to play against strong competition and rise to the challenge when playing good teams. We have a strong offense, so we are working on switching our mindset to being a defensive oriented team and focus on our passing and blocking."
That offense came through in last week Tuesday's game against Tri-Valley, where the team took down the Mustangs in three sets.
"We have twenty-five girls out for high school volleyball this season, with 4 of them being seniors," said Stoterau. "Our outside hitters, Kaylin Koch and Aleah Wagner, are returning in the same position as last year and do a great job of keeping our team in system on defense as well as offense. Our libero, Tayler Benson, is also a returner in the same position and works hard in serve receive and being an energizer for the team. Sydney Olson is returning as a setter and right side hitter and does a great job leading the team by working hard. Our other setters include Addison Hove and Maci Rotert, who are our hustle players and get to many balls."
The game against the Mustangs started off hot, with the Blue Dragons pulling out ahead early in the set. However, once they got to 12 points, the Mustangs put together a 7-point run, tying up the score. They briefly pulled ahead 17-13, when the Dragons put the brakes on the opposing team and played catch-up. The final score of the set went to the Lady Dragons, 25-22.
Garretson then put down the Mustangs for the next two sets, finishing the game with scores of 25-8 and 25-16.
On Thursday, Garretson traveled to Beresford to face the Watchdogs. Again, the team took down the opposition in three sets 25-15, 25-14, and 25-20.
On Saturday, the team headed down to Canton to play four games in the Canton Tournament. There, they faced Lennox, West Lyon (out of Larchwood, IA), Vermillion, and Baltic, winning three out of four games.
"We started out the tournament strong, playing hard on defense and getting our feet to many balls," said Stoterau. "Our offense was strong as well and we were able to hit many different shots."
In the first game held against Lennox, the Dragons only needed two sets to show the opposition who was boss, though the Orioles put up quite a fight. Garretson came out of each set with scores of 30-28 and 25-20. Koch and Wagner led the team in kills, each putting down 8. Varsity newcomer Bella Sysa netted two blocks, Olson and Addison Hove led in assists with eleven and ten respectively, and Hove and Koch each scored an ace. Benson and Koch dug out 15 and 13 balls, respectively.
West Lyon did its best to take the Dragons out of the sky, netting the win on the first set of the game 18-25. However, Garretson rallied through the next two sets, scoring 25-23 and 25-14. Leading that game in kills was Wagner, who put down 12 balls, followed closely by Koch with nine. Wagner and Olson each gathered two aces, and Hove and Olson netted twelve more assists each to add to their totals. Wagner and Benson led in digs with 11 and 10, respectively.
Next taking on Vermillion, Garretson showed its prowess in the first set with an ending of 25-13, but nearly faltered in the second set, going all the way to 29-27 to take the win. Koch had a standout game, providing the team with 8 kills, one block, 2 aces, and 9 digs. Wagner had 9 kills while Hove had 4. Ashley Harris had one block and Benson took home four aces, while Rotert and Olson each added 7 assists and Hove added 5. Benson, Wagner, and Nora Bonte saved the day several times with 5, 4, and 4 digs, respectively.
The final game against Baltic did not go the Dragon's way as the Bulldogs took the win, 10-25 and 13-25. Standouts were Olson with 4 kills and 4 assists, and Wagner with 3 kills and 7 digs. Koch netted one block, Rotert snagged one ace, Hove added three more assists, and Benson dug out 13.
"Our game against Baltic was a learning experience and we were able to learn that we need to speed up our defense," pointed out Stoterau. "We play Baltic again this coming Thursday, August 31st, so it'll be a great opportunity to compete against a fast offense."
The game versus Baltic will be played on the home court, with Varsity beginning at 7:15 p.m.
