by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
The Blue Dragon volleyball team has continued its winning streak this season, gathering the W against Alcester-Hudson, Parker, and Elkton-Lake Benton over the past week. Two of the three games were played on the home court, but that didn't necessarily mean they were easy games.
"The Blue Dragon volleyball team (16-1) has continued their win streak, but it hasn't been without its challenges as the girls have had to hit the road more and have been pushed deeper into matches," said assistant coach Kelsey Buchholz. "After redeeming their one loss on the season (Big East Conference tournament championship against Chester) by beating the Flyers in three straight sets in Chester, Garretson had to turn around to face Alcester-Hudson. But the long drive didn't distract the Blue Dragons' focus. They easily took care of the Cubs in three sets: 25-6, 25-18, 25-9. All 16 varsity players saw court time and were able to take advantage of the opportunities given."
Next up were the Parker Pheasants.
"Parker has played spoiler to the Blue Dragons a few times over the last few years but Garretson was bound and determined to not let it happen again," said Buchholz.
Parker made the Lady Dragons work hard, however. While Garretson was able to take down Parkston in three sets, two of them were close, with the Dragons scoring 25-21, 25-22, and 25-12.
Said Buchholz, "Pressure was on in the first set as Garretson jumped to a 13-6 lead but the Pheasants worked their way back to a one point game to close it to 20-19. But after a timely timeout by Coach Northrup, the Blue Dragons closed out the game 25-21.
"The second set was just as close as the teams were tied halfway through the match at 15s. Garretson was able to spread it to a three point lead in the second half of the set and that three point difference held for the final score 25-22."
Elkton-Lake Benton
In the home game against Elkton-Lake Benton, the Lady Dragons pulled out the win after five sets.
The first set stayed neck-in-neck as the teams tied, pulled ahead, and tied again, before the Lady Elks took the lead.
"The Lady Elks play solid defense consistently, keeping them in every game," said Buchholz. "And that was the case Monday night as the Elks took down Garretson 25-23 in the first set and 25-22 in the second."
Several successful plays allowed ELB to pull ahead in the first set with 13 points to Garretson's seven, before the Blue Dragons called a time out. They came back into the game and turned it around, quickly gaining two more points, but a kill that went out of bounds by Lily Ranschau gave ELB the next point. An error by ELB gave Garretson the ball, but ELB stayed in the lead 16-10 after a failed return from Garretson. At that time, the Dragons started to breathe fire and play catch-up, gaining three points before ELB scored again. The visiting team continued to gather points as the Blue Dragons' ball went out of bounds, and though it looked like Garretson might come out on top after they gathered five points while holding ELB to 24, ELB pulled out the win on the first set at 23-25.
The Blue Dragons pulled out of the gate first on the second set, gaining five points to ELB's one point. They stayed ahead, but ELB refused to be the underdogs and clawed their way back to a tie 13-13. The Blue Dragons pulled back ahead but the visiting team continued to nip at the Dragons' tail. They found a weak spot in the middle of the Dragon's court and exploited it. Despite attempts by the Dragons to close it, the Lady Elks won the second set 22-25.
"This was the first time all season the Blue Dragons have found themselves down 0-2," said Buchholz. "With their backs against the wall, Garretson had to take the third set or risk dropping their second game of the season."
Sensing their impending loss, the Dragons turned it around in set three and drove the ball home, gathering nine points to ELB's one before allowing the visiting team a second point. The Lady Dragons continued to dominate, holding ELB down while sinking the ball into the visiting team's court. Sitting at 23-8, the Dragons allowed the Elks to gather five more points before stealing the court back and winning the set 25-13.
With the chance to take back the game now in play, Garretson took to the court in the fourth set and nabbed the first two points. ELB wouldn't go down easily, however, and played solid returns. The Blue Dragons saw this and made sure they didn't allow the Lady Elks to catch up, wearing the other team down as they made the visitors run after the ball. As the home team hit 20-10, the energy levels picked up among the Dragons while the visitors began missing or hitting the ball out of bounds. The Dragons won the set 25-12, bringing the teams to their fifth set of the evening.
Now it was anyone's game, and the two teams were out for the win. However, Garretson grabbed the lead early and refused to let go. They gathered steam while picking up points, hitting twelve points before ELB took its fifth on an error by Garretson. The visitors again played a solid return ball in an attempt to make a comeback, but a kill by Kaylin Koch ended the set 15-6 and won the game for Garretson.
Leading the way for the five set match was Lily Ranschau with 19 kills. Logan Bly put down 14, Kaylin Koch 6, and Anna Jones 5 to lead the Blue Dragons. Jaelyn Benson tallied 43 assists in addition to her 4 kills and 22 digs. It was a team effort on defense to keep the Blue Dragons in the game. Lexi Gawarecki led the team with 23 pick ups, Lily Ranschau had 17, Aliyah Leedy 16, and Alli Gawarecki 15.
The team defended its streak on Tuesday against Dell Rapids St. Mary's (results unavailable at press time) and again tonight (Thursday), facing off against the Canton C-Hawks on the home court. JV plays at 6:00 and Varsity starts at 7:00.
