Lyman falls to Timber Lake for 8th-place finish

After defeating Lyman 3-1 Saturday, the Timber Lake Panthers finished their first-ever Class B state tournament in seventh place.

Set scores of the match that was held at the Corn Palace Saturday in Mitchell were 18-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-20.

In the early stages of the game, the Panthers struggled to gain momentum and put themselves in a huge hole by allowing Lyman to start on a 7-1 run.

“I think the girls were feeling a little bit defeated from our first two games,” Timber Lake head coach Sarah Schweitzer said. “We weren’t getting that momentum we needed to get things rolling.”

The Panthers picked up momentum in the second set with timely serving, which stymied the Lyman defense.

“Timber Lake just came on strong,” Lyman co-head coach Jill Whalen said. “They had a good server and we were not ready for it.”

The server who did the most damage was Kristie Mettler. She finished the game with eight service aces and 14 kills.

“Kristie stepped and played really smart,” Schweitzer said. “She stepped behind that serving line, saw where the holes were, served it short and when they adjusted, she went deep to keep mixing it up at them.”

The Raiders got close to edging ahead in sets three and four but could not drum up a big play when needed.

“We just needed some big plays, we worked really hard but they just didn’t come,” Whalen said.

Lyman is the youngest and only team at the Class B tournament with no seniors on its roster. The Raiders depart from the three-day tournament without a win, but they received a wealth of experience.

“Now that we have experienced the state tourney, we know what it takes to compete at this level,” Whalen said. “We have seen a higher level of volleyball, and the girls have seen it, played it and want to be at that level of volleyball.”

The Raiders were led by Anna Flitner, who finished with 19 kills, 18 digs and four assists.

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