Volleyball Opens Conference Play With Loss to NDSCS

The Lake Region State College Royals volleyball team lost to North Dakota State College of Science Wildcats in the conference opener 3-1. In what was a tightly contested match between the conference opponents neither squad could pull away from the other making for a hard fought match.

In the first set it was a back and forth set that was played to a 15-15 tie when NDSCS broke the game open. They went on a 10-4 run to close out the set over the Royals. The key to the Wildcats run was their serving, they had it dialed in and the Royals had no answer for it. The final of the first set was 25-19 in favor of the Wildcats.

The second was more of the same with neither team ever pulling more than two to three points ahead of the other. With the match on the line and the score 24-21 the Royals reeled off two straight big points to pull to within one. The Royals couldn't finish off the comeback and force extra play. The wildcats put one home and finished off the second set with a victory 25-23.

During the third set the Royals found themselves in a big hole down 12-4 to the Wildcats. A quick timeout by Head Coach Brigitte Greywater got them back on track as they came storming back and pulled within two. Late in the set with the score in favor of the Royals at 22-21 the Wildcats took a time out. It wasn't enough as the Royals took the third set 25-23.

The Royals couldn't keep the momentum going in the fourth set with the Wildcats coming out firing on all cylinders. The wildcats jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, they took the fourth set 25-11 for the win.

Coach Greywater said, "This is the best we have ever played at NDSCS sense the revival of the program. We played very good volleyball in spurts but we kept hurting our momentum with mental errors."

Hannah Hextall and Evan Stack led the way with 8 kills apiece for the Royals, with Katie Dufner chipping in 7. Hannah Swartz was setting everyone up all night with 28 assists with 4 blocks. Libero Rebekah Stoe had 11 digs followed by Evan Stack with 9 digs. Payton Kritzberger had 7 blocks on the game.

The LRSC Volleyball team is back in action this Sunday in Minnesota as they travel to take on regional opponents Dakota County Technical College and Gogebic Community College in a Triangular. For updates on the program check out @LRSCVolleyball on Twitter or @LRSCRoyals. You can follow us on Facebook at LRSC Athletics and for all the latest news about Royals athletics check out LRSCRoyals.com.

Go Royals!