Spirits started high at the South Dakota Sweet 16 tournament held last Tuesday, November 12, with a Blue Dragons crowd that filled the Roosevelt High School bleachers, but after a close first set that resulted in a loss, the Blue Dragons had a hard time hanging on to their momentum in the second and third sets, and the Blue Dragons were not victorious.
Despite the loss, the girls can hold their heads high, because the volleyball team hasn’t done this well since 1997.
The Lady Dragons came out swinging after McCook County/Montrose Cougars scored the first five points in the first five minutes of the game, quickly catching up and then passing the Cougars. Garretson pulled out with kills by #7 Lily Ranschau, who has had a strong season. They pulled ahead with a block by #5 Aftyn Heitkamp, and gathered their momentum. The Blue Dragons then pulled ahead by 4 points, but MCM was able to catch up, tying the game at 12-12.
After errors by MCM, Garretson pulled ahead to 18 points, but the Cougars caught up and tied the game again. The teams stayed neck in neck, each scoring points until they were tied 23-23.
MCM got the set point after a kill put the ball between Heitkamp and #4 Peyton Hove, and they won the game on an Ace serve after the ball slipped past Ranschau’s hands as she tried to dig, leaving the final score at 23-25.
In the second set, the Cougars again scored the first point, but a block by #2 Logan Bly brought the Blue Dragons out of the gate. After their second point, Garretson started making errors, and MCM pulled ahead and kept the lead. The teams were at 7-20 after nine minutes of gameplay, and as MCM played for set point, Ranschau landed wrong after a block, causing an injury to her ankle that took her out of set three. Garretson was able to keep the final point away from MCM and bring the score to 10-24, but after a final serve into the net by #12 Aaliyah Leedy, the second set was lost 10-25.
Set three started out with a long play between the two teams, with the Blue Dragons making some good saves, but the Cougars were able to score the first point. After that, the Cougars got ahold of the momentum while the Blue Dragons seemed to hold back.
The Blue Dragons worked hard to rally, and were able to score 6 points, staying only a few points behind MCM, but several openings were left for MCM to exploit, and they took advantage, quickly bringing the score to 9-19.
With the final score hanging in the balance at 12-23, Garretson gained one more point after a kill by Leedy slipped inside the back out of bounds line.
The Cougars brought the game to set point after a kill, but the final point was hard-fought. The Blue Dragons kept the ball in the air for several plays back and forth, not allowing that final point to land. Unfortunately it did when the ball bounced backwards off Hove’s fingers, ending the game.
The Blue Dragons ended their season with a final score of 20 wins and 11 losses, and despite the disappointment of not making it to State, Seniors #1 Kenzie Northrup, Heitkamp, and #9 Bella Peters can be happy their high school volleyball seasons ended on a fairly high note.
