Aberdeen Central unleashed its hitting and serving power on Brandon Valley. The Golden Eagles won 25-9, 25-4, 25-18 over Brandon Valley in an Eastern South Dakota Conference match in Aberdeen.
When the air cleared, the Golden Eagles had 34 kills and 12 ace serves. Central missed just four serves and misfired on eight spike attempts.
"We were figuring out where we needed to go with the ball," said Central coach Dennis Northrup. "Our game plan was to hit over their short setter when she was in the front row. We didn't go middle much, because that's where their strength is. They have two middles that are athletic and tall, so we just played smarter. I drew up the center of the court (on a clipboard) because that's where we wanted to hit the ball. We don't want to go inside over those middles."
Aberdeen never trailed in the first set and jumped out to a 19-6 lead. The two teams exchanged three kills each for a 22-9 score. The Golden Eagles closed out the set with a Lynx error, a kill by Sara Niederbaumer and an ace serve by Kelsey Hannigan.
The second set was all Central power with kills, blocks and aces. The home team raced out to a 10-0 lead and expanded it to 23-4. The Lynx missed a serve and set point came on an ace serve by Amanda Tobin.
Brandon Valley took its first lead of the match by scoring the first point of the third set on a Central defensive error. The set was tied at 5-all in the early going. The Golden Eagles went on an eight-point run to boost the score to 16-7.
The Lynx answered with a six-point surge of their own. The teams went back-and-forth until Central's lead was just four points at 21-17. Tobin cracked a kill and Samantha Knecht pounded a kill on an over pass by the Lynx. Central misfired on a spike attempt, but Brandon Valley missed a serve to set up match point at 24-18. Tobin hit another kill, her eighth of the match, for the win.
"We got after it on defense. That's the key to this team is if we can play defense like that," said Northrup. "I told my girls this week in practice, 'We don't always have to pound that ball a thousand miles an hour. Trust our defense. We can put up a monster block and we can dig the ball. Sometimes you don't have the perfect ball to hit, so just keep it in play. Then, we'll get it back and then we'll pound it.' "
The first match between the two ESD teams down in Brandon was closer. The Golden Eagles have since switched to a two-setter offense, so Central always has three tall hitters in the front row.
"We blocked down the line on them all day. I watched film on them and they hit the ball over the top of Kelsey Hannigan, when we were down in Brandon. We made that adjustment and we went to a 6-2. We're a different team than we were then," said Northrup.
Hannigan and Lauren McCafferty finished with three aces each. Samantha Knecht and Niederbaumer added seven kills each.
"We got swinging today," said Central setter Maddie Goetz. "We have to keep working hard because we're going to be playing good teams in the next few weeks, so we have to practice hard."
Central returns to the court on Tuesday, hosting Huron at 7 p.m. at Golden Eagles Arena in the last regular-season home match. With the win over Brandon Valley, the Golden Eagles clinched at least a share of the ESD title. Aberdeen has three matches remaining with a three-match lead over Brookings in second place. One win in the last three matches will give Aberdeen Central the ESD crown outright.
Serving: Central 70-74 12 aces (Kelsey Hannigan 18-18 3 aces, Lauren McCafferty 7-8 3 aces, Maddie Goetz 13-14 2 aces, Meggie Hanson 11-11 2 aces, Amanda Tobin 7-7 2 aces).
Hitting: Central 64-72 34 kills (Tobin 16-18 8 kills, Samantha Knecht 8-11 7 kills, Sara Niederbaumer 11-11 7 kills, McCafferty 13-14 6 kills, Caitlin Rasmusson 11-11 4 kills).
Setting: Central 65-65 29 assists (Hannigan 27-27 13 assists, Goetz 21-21 9 assists, Tara Rook 6-6 2 assists, Niederbaumer 5-5 3 assists, Knecht 2-2 2 assists).
Digs: Central 46 (Hanson 11, McCafferty 7, Hannigan 7, Tobin 5, Maggie Hepper 4, Rasmusson 3).
Blocks: Central 4 solo 5 assists (McCafferty 1 solo, Rasmusson 2 solo 2 assists, Knecht 1 solo 1 assist, Brianna Kusler 1 assist, Niederbaumer 1 assist).
Records: Brandon Valley 7-10, 5-6 ESD; Aberdeen Central 14-2, 11-0 ESD.
Officials: Doug Beste and Joe Giovannettone.
Northwestern 25-25-25
Milbank 22-17-5
|Non-conference at Milbank|
Serving: Northwestern 67-73 14 aces (Kelsey Hoellein 17-18 4 aces, Christine Morgan 19-19 3 aces, Jeanna Duncan 9-10 3 aces, Ashley Clemens 13-14 2 aces); Milbank (Audrey Souza 8-8 2 aces, Tayla Schulte 11-13 2 aces, Amanda Hansen 5-5 1 ace).
Hitting: Northwestern 86-98 36 kills (Clemens 26-29 15 kills, Jordon Peterson 24-28 10 kills, Kennedi Sparling 17-20 8 kills, Julie Sparling 7-9 2 kills); Milbank (Kendra Snaza 39-44 9 kills, Mikayla Wendland 6-7 4 kills, Abbie Snaza 6-9 3 kills).
Setting: Northwestern 98-98 35 assists (Duncan 84-84 33 assists, K. Sparling 2-2 1 assist); Milbank (Schulte 62-62 14 assists).
Digs: Northwestern 57 (Hoellein 15, K. Sparling 15, Morgan 8); Milbank (A. Snaza 11, K. Snaza 4, Hansen 4).
Blocks: Northwestern 2 (Clemens 1 assist, Duncan 1 assist); Milbank (K. Snaza 1 solo, A. Snaza 1 assist, Brittany Ackerman 1 assist).
Records: Northwestern 20-7; Milbank 7-12.
JV Match: Milbank 25-15, 25-3.
C Match: Northwestern 25-12, 25-23.
Ellendale (N.D.) 25-25-27-25
Kidder County (N.D.) 15-17-29-18
|at Ellendale, N.D.|
Serving: Kidder County 8 aces (Erica Kahl 3 aces, Jordan Stroh 2 aces); Ellendale 8 aces (Rachel Herman 5 aces, KaLee hack 5 aces).
Hitting: Kidder County 34 kills (Brittney Barlett 10 kills, Kahl 12 kills, Mattie Olson 8 kills); Ellendale 56 kills (Lucinda Stoppleworth 22 kills, Shayna Mertz 14 kills, Madi Bommersbach 8 kills, Dacey Fuller 6 kills).
Setting: Kidder County 32 assists (Jamie Blotter 20 assists, Jenna Nicholson 12 assists); Ellendale 48 assists (Fuller 19 assists, Herman 18 assists).
Digs: Kidder County (Kahl 30, Nicholson 25, Blotter 22); Ellendale (Bommersbach 16, Fuller 15, Herman 19, Hack 13).
Blocks: Kidder County 4 (Kahl 3); Ellendale 3 (Stoppleworth 3).