By OWEN REITZEL
The Daily Republic
HURON - The Lyman Raiders defeated the Herreid/Selby Area Wolverines 25-22, 16-25, 25-16, 25-18 to finish fifth at the Class B state volleyball tournament Saturday in Huron.
No. 6 Lyman improved off last year’s eighth-place finish.
The teams split the first two sets with the Wolverines dominating and grabbing the momentum in the second set.
“It was a little bit of a wake-up call,” said Lyman coach Jill Whalen of the second set loss. “We kind of woke up and realized that we’re going to have to play our best game in order to beat Herreid/Selby. They’re a very good team.”
But the third set saw the Raiders jump to an early 9-3 lead and expand their lead to 17-7. Herreid/Selby Area closed the gap to within six but Lyman cruised to a 25-16 win.
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The fourth set proved to be a continuation of the third set. The Raiders jumped out to a 9-3 lead for the second straight set. The Wolverines fought back and cut the deficit to 10-7, but that’s as close as they could get. Lyman pushed the lead to 23-18 and never looked back, taking the set 25-18 and winning its second match of the state tournament.
Anna Flitner led Lyman with 25 kills and 25 digs for a double-double and said her team fought hard all the way to the end.
“Everyone knew that this was our last game and we knew that we could play a lot better,” Flitner said. “So we came out motivated for the last two sets.”
Coming into the tournament, all teams have a goal of winning the coveted title and Whalen said her team had to refocus after they lost the first day.
“You come into the state tournament with a big goal in mind,” said Whalen. “But when we lost that first game we had to refocus and say you know what, we have a chance to be consolation champions. So that’s been our goal the last two days.”
The Raiders (26-9) were also led by Jessica Welter with 12 kills and Sara Herman with 14 digs.
The Wolverines (21-13) were paced by Haylee Biel with 16 kills, Jana Thorstenson with 11 kills and 10 digs, Abbey Fjeldheim with 21 digs, Kelsey Quaschnick with 11 digs and Grace Russell with 10 digs and 21 assists.
