Its been nine years since the Patriots started traveling to the Sioux Falls Pentagon to take part in their tournament and its the first time in nine years that the Patriots came back champions of their division.
The day started bright and early at 8:00 as the ladies played Hanson. The first set was fairly close until about half way when the Patriots went on a run and won set one by a score of 25-16. Set two was a little easier for the Patriots as Hanson was having trouble defending the barrage of hard hits by the Patriots. H-T would run away with set two by a score of 25-11 and win the match 2-0.
Leading the offense in the match was Katelyn Schroeder and Rebecca Huizenga with 6 kills each. Lila Johnson added in 4 kills. The ladies recorded 9 aces in the match. Ella Johnson led the way with 4 aces and Schroeder with 3. Lila Johnson tallied 9 assists and Gracyn Bixler tallied 7. Defensively for the Patriots, Schroeder led with 9 digs, followed by Lila Johnson with 5. Isabel Gilbert recorded two block assists in the match.
In match two, H-T went up against Freeman. Both sets were all the Patriots as they served and hit aggressive to keep the Flyers from getting anything set up. Set scores were 25-3 and 25-12. Schroeder led the hitting with 13 kills. Lila Johnson recorded 11 assists. Lila would also record 4 out of the 8 Patriot aces. Defensively, Schroeder recorded 10 digs.
The last match in pool play featured the Patriots going against Mount Vernon-Plankinton. The first set was close as the Patriots exchanged points until the ladies would go on a run in the middle of the set and put away set one 25-16. Set two was all the Patriots as they jumped out to a good lead and never looked back and won the set 25-11. Schroeder led the way with 9 kills. Ella Johnson had a great match and ended the match with 8 kills. Lila Johnson also added 5. Lila tallied 12 assists and Bixler recorded 10. Ella Johnson recorded 4 out of the 6 aces. Defensively, Schroeder had 13 digs and Cambree Hoekman recorded 9. Gilbert recorded 4 block assists in the match.
The Patriots won their pool and set up a semi-final match against the Ethan Rustlers. In the first set the Patriots jumped out to a nice lead and won the first set by a score of 25-12. In set two, the Rustlers play the Patriots close throughout. Eventually the Patriots prevailed in set two by a score of 25-22 and taking the match 2-0. In the match, the offense was spread out well as there were 26 kills in the match. Schroeder led the team with 8 kills, but after that it was pretty even. Lila recorded 10 assist and Bixler 7 assists. Schroeder recorded 6 aces and Gilbert added 2. Cora Hofer and Gilbert each had a block assist. Schroder recorded 19 digs and Hoekman 9. Lila Johnson also had 7.
In the Championship match, the Patriots found themselves going up against a good Winner team. In the first set, the Patriots started out slow and they found themselves down 5-0 before Coach Opp used a time-out. They would eventually catch the Warriors about half way though set one after Ella Johnson went on an excellent serving run. The Patriots eventually took the lead. The Patriots won the first set 25-22. In set two, it was all H-T as they used some aggressive serving and hard hits to wear the Warriors down. The Patriots would run away with set two by a score of 25-11 and win the match 2-0. Schroeder led the team with 14 kills, hitting a 0.591. Lila Johnson added 4 kills. Ella Johnson recorded 4 out of the 5 aces in the match. Lila recorded 15 assists and Bixler tallied 10. Our front row played a great game as Cora Hofer recorded 2 block assists and Gilbert recorded 1 solo and 2 block assists. Rebecca Huizenga also recorded 1 block assist. Schroeder led the team with 18 digs and Hoekman recorded 14.
The Patriots run their record to 19-0 and will be back in action on Tuesday as they travel to Sunshine Bible to take on the Crusaders. Jr. High match will begin at 5:15, followed my JV and Varsity.
