The Patriots came out focused and locked in all day on Saturday in Wessington Springs as they claimed the 281 Conference Tournament title.
The day started out with the Patriots playing Sunshine Bible. The Patriots struggled at the serve line as they missed 6 serves the first set. But, the ladies countered that with some spot on passes and hard hits. The Patriots ran away with both sets by scores of 25-10 and 25-3.
Leading the way in the match was Rebecca Huizenga with 7 kills. Katelyn Schroeder added 5 kills. Ella Johnson and Cora Hofer each added 4 kills in the win. Lila Johnson recorded 14 assists. Schroeder recorded 6 digs in the contest.
The win set up a contest in the semi-final match against the Wessington Springs Spartans. In the first set, the Patriots and Spartans played point for point as the Patriots could not get any big runs going. About midway through the set, Isabel GIlbert would go on serving run for the Patriots and extended the lead. The Patriots would win set one by a score of 25-15.
Set two was all the Patriots as they used some aggressive serving and hard hits to take the Spartans out of their game. The Patriots would go on to win set two by a score of 25-4.
Leading the way in the match was Katelyn Schroeder with 14 kills. Rebecca Huizenga added 8 kills and Lila Johnson chipped in 4. Lila also recorded 19 assists in the match. Defensively, Cambree Hoekman recorded 13 digs. Schroeder tallied 8. Cora Hofer and Huizenga each recorded a block assist.
The Championship match pitted the Patriots against their rival, the Wolsey-Wessington Warbirds. In set one, it looked as the Patriots were going to run away with it as they jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Warbirds came back and tied the set and played point for point with the Patriots. The Patriots used some great defense at the net and in the back row to help fuel the set one victory by a score of 25-20. In set two, it was all Patriots as the defense held strong as the Patriots had several blocks and great digs. Ella Johnson also went on a big serving run in the game to run away with the set two victory by winning 25-8.
Leading the way was Schroeder with 8 kills. Lila Johnson tallied 5 kills. The Patriots recorded 9 aces in the match , with Ella Johnson serving up 6 of those aces. Gracyn Bixler tallied 9 assists in the match. The defense came up big as the Patriots had 14 block assists with Isabel Gilbert coming up with 7 block assists and Schroeder with 4. Schroeder also had 11 digs in the match and Hoekman followed with 7. Hoekman also tallied her 1,000 Career dig during the match.
Katelyn Schroeder was named the MVP of the tournament.
The Patriots push their record to 23-0. The next match will be Tuesday night as the Patriots will travel to Warner to take on the Monarchs. It will be a clash of two of the top rated teams in Class B Volleyball. If you are traveling to Warner, please wear red as we are designating the theme for the night to a RED OUT. First serve is set for 5:15 p.m. with the Jr. High match. We hope to see a large and loud crowd in Warner!