In front of a packed out Thursday night, the Lady Patriots recorded their biggest win of the year, by beating the Northwestern Wildcats in four sets to move on to the SoDak 16.
In set one, the Wildcats came to play as they were firing on all cylinders. The Patriots had a hard time getting in system and playing defense. The Wildcats won the first set 15-25.
Set two, the Lady Patriots had a lot better set as the set was close for most of the way, until the ladies pulled away for a 25-19 win.
Set three proved to be the closest set of the night as both teams got down 5 points or more and came back to take the lead and tie. The Patriots squeaked out set three 25-23.
Set four, the Patriots set the tone early as they got the Wildcats out of system with their aggressive serving and hitting. There were also some great defensive plays to keep the ball alive. The ladies finished off set four by winning 25-18 and taking the match 3-1.
Leading the way for the Patriots was Katelyn Schroeder with 23 kills. Cora Hofer had a great game and recorded 8 kills. Ella and Lila Johnson each had 7 and 6 kills respectively. Rebecca Huizenga chipped in 4 kills to round out the scoring.
Lila Johnson recorded a whopping 29 assists in the match and Gracyn Bixler added 10.
The Patriots served a perfect game from the serve line, going 88-88 with 8 aces. Lila Johnson led the way with 3 aces. Ella Johnson and Schroeder each added 2.
Digs were abundant on defense as their were a lot of hits from both sides. Schroder led the team with 22, followed by Cambree Hoekman recording 11. Lila Johnson recorded 9 and Emmerie Arthurs added 8.
The front row came up with some big blocks through out. Huizenga came up with some big ones down the stretch and recorded 2 block assists and 1 block solo. Hofer also recorded a solo block and a block assist. Isabel Gilbert came up with one block assist also.
The Patriots move to 30-2 on the season. They will play Herreid-Selby in the SoDak 16 on Tuesday in Mellette. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. We need all the Patriot fans to come loud and proud and pack the gym in. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. The them for the night is a blue out.