The Britton-Hecla volleyball team had lost five straight heading into the regular season finale against Wilmot last night Tuesday, but Coach Jenna Peters is excited to see what her club can do in postseason play.
“We are excited for the region,” said Peters. “Even though we haven’t had a win in a little while, we are excited with some of the improvements we’ve seen in our blocking, defense, and hitting. We need to be at our best and able to adjust as the game progresses. We have many different options for offense and defense so I think we are ready to go there. It’s going to be a battle but I think my girls are ready!”
The Lady Braves will open tournament play on Tuesday with the winners battling next week Thursday for the two SoDak 16 spots from Region 1A. Prior to Tuesday’s matches Groton Area (18-6) was the number one seed, Aberdeen Roncalli (13-8) number two, Sisseton (14-11) number three, Webster Area (11-11) number four, Milbank (13-15) number five, Britton-Hecla (13-11) number six, and Redfield (5-19) number seven.
First round pairings match the four and five seeds, two vs. seven, and number three plays six. The number one seed has a first round bye and will play the 4-5 winner next week Thursday, while the other two winners will clash in the other Thursday semifinal.
If seed placing remains the same after final matches Britton-Hecla would travel to Sisseton in the first round. Sisseton posted a hard-fought 15-25, 31-29, 25-22, 25-23 win in a regular season meeting a month ago.
In the past week the Lady Braves lost straight set matches to Great Plains Lutheran last week Tuesday and to Great Plains Lutheran on Thursday.
GPL 25-25-25
B-H 14-18-16
Britton-Hecla was the victim of some long Great Plains Lutheran runs in a three-set loss to the Panthers.
The Lady Braves started fast, grabbing a 9-6 lead in set one behind a pair of kills from McKenna Heer, b locks by Abby Lee and Mallory Grupe, and blocks by Jaelee Grupe and Mallory Grupe. But then things went south as GPL’s Jolie Lien served 11 straight points in the midst of a 16-1 run.
In set two the visitors jumped out to a 7-1 lead but the Lady Braves cut the margin to 13-9 behind a pair of Lee kills. But then came a 7-1 GPL run to boost the lead to 20-10 and put the Panthers in charge.
GPL also began set three with a 7-1 run and led 13-5, but B-H rebounded with an 8-3 run of its own behind kills from Maddi Micko, Jaelee Grupe, and Heer to cut that margin to 16-13. The Lady Braves were still in the match, trailing 19-15, but GPL earned the sweep with a 6-1 finishing surge.
SERVING: BH, 44-50, 2 aces (McKenna Heer 12-12, 2 aces; Heather Storbakken 8-8; Maddi Micko 8-10; Jaelee Grupe 7-8)
HITTING: BH, 85-98, 26 kills (J. Grupe 17-17, 6 kills; Abby Lee 19-25, 6 kills; Heer 12-14, 4 kills; Micko 16-16, 3 kills; Karlie Zuehlke 9-13, 3 kills)
SETTING: BH, 92-92, 23 assists (J. Grupe 43-43, 9 assists; Storbakken 25-25, 9 assists; Chellon Pruitt 6-6, 3 assists)
DIGS: BH, 46 (J. Grupe 14, Daynika Zuehlke 13, Micko 6)
BLOCKS: BH, 12 assists (Lee, 3, J. Grupe 3, K. Zuehlke 3)
Clark-WL 25-25-25
B-H 14-13-22
Clark-Willow Lake jumped out to a quick start and took the match in straight sets. Abby Lee and Jaelee Grupe both had eight kills for the Lady Braves.
SERVING: BH, 45-49, 1 ace (Daynika Zuehlke 11-12; Maddi Micko 10-10; McKenna Heer 6-6, 1 ace; Heather Storbakken 8-9; Karlie Zuehlke 6-6)
HITTING: BH, 103-121, 25 kills (Abby Lee 24-27, 8 kills; Jaelee Grupe 22-24, 8 kills; Heer 19-25, 4 kills; Micko 15-16, 3 kills; K. Zuehlke 15-19, 2 kills)
SETTING: BH, 116-116, 21 assists (Storbakken 55-55, 11 assists; J. Grupe 36-36, 7 assists; D. Zuehlke 7-7, 2 assists)
DIGS: BH, 59 (D. Zuehlke 14, J. Grupe 11, Storbakken 9, Annika Tank 7, Ava Teveldal 7)
BLOCKS: BH, 1 block, 2 assists (Mallory Grupe 1 block; J. Grupe 1 assist; Lee 1 assist)
