Stevens downs Mitchell in seventh-place match

YANKTON — Rapid City Stevens struggled to close out the match on consecutive days, losing twice when the Raiders had earned a match-point opportunity.

Saturday, they finally did ... after having to sweat it out for a bit.

Stevens closed its 2010 campaign on a positive note, beating Mitchell 25-17, 26-24, 25-23 to win the seventh-place match at the Class A state tournament Saturday at the Summit Center.

Stevens had lost to Sioux Falls Lincoln in the opening round and Watertown in the consolation semifinals. In both matches, the Raiders served for match point.

Stevens got its offense going in spurts early on, as Margaret McCloud and Kacey Herrmann put the ball to the floor to help the Raiders build an early 10-6 lead. Mitchell battled back to within 11-9, but the Raiders took advantage of some Kernel miscues to stretch the margin to nine, 22-13. Mitchell ran off five straight points late — two thanks to Stevens hitting errors — to make the game close before the Raiders put the opening stanza away.

Mitchell ran off five straight points to start the second game, but Stevens worked their way back in. The Raiders closed to within one at 8-7, but could not tie the match until 19-all.

With the game tied at 22, a net serve by Stevens and a kill by Mitchell’s Lexie Weier had the Kernels at game point. But McCloud stepped up with two kills and a block to help the Raiders claim the game and a 2-0 match lead.

“We were in position to win sets, that’s all you can ask of your kids,” Mitchell coach Deb Thill said. “Set two — shoulda, coulda, woulda — that’s how it goes, but I thought our kids never laid down.”

Mitchell again took an early lead in the third set, 8-3, behind two kills each from Weier and Dana Misiaszek. But 12 of the next 15 points went on the Raiders’ side of the scoreboard.

“When our big kids start getting involved and everyone focuses on them, then it opens things up for our other kids,” Rapid City coach Josh Lien said. “Today was the first time in this tournament that we’ve really had that.”

Stevens built to a 24-17 lead before Mitchell ran off six straight points to close within one. Misiaszek had a kill and a block, and Weier posted an ace serve and a kill in the rally.

Herrmann had 13 kills and McCloud had 11 kills and four blocks to lead Stevens. Setter Anna Sykora posted 35 assists and 11 digs. Courtney Hillard had 16 digs and Summer Willock added 11 digs in the victory.

Young had nine kills and Weier had seven kills, two ace serves and 13 digs for Mitchell. Taylin Alm had seven kills. Charlee Nelson had 27 assists and three kills for the Kernels.

Nelson, a setter, finished with 11 kills in 10 games for the tournament. She was the only Mitchell player on the all-tournament team.

“We would like her to do that more, actually, because she’s pretty good at it,” Thill said of her setter’s aggressiveness. “She’s a very unselfish player. She knows a setter’s role, and we’ve got some good hitters around her.”

Mitchell, which ended a six-year drought of state tournament appearances, had the misfortune of facing all three of the teams tied for the second seed, after opening with Huron and playing Aberdeen Central in the consolation round Friday.

“That was kind of a tough draw for our kids, but I was proud of the effort they put on the floor in the state tournament,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be here for a few more years to come.”

Tags: high school volleyball, sports, volleyball, kernels