Royals Volleyball Snags First MonDak Win

Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, September 9th, 2018

There was a moment in the first set of Lake Region State College's volleyball match against Williston State College Wednesday night when the Royals trailed 17-9.

"I was a little nervous when that happened and that's the start of our first set," said Royals head coach Brigitte Greywater.

Lake Region State College would go on to lose that set, but the Royals won the match defeating the Tetons 3-1 from the Sports Center.

"But they bounced back really well to score 22 when we were down big time. I wasn't sure if we had shown up for the match today but these young ladies found a way to battle and to be resilient," Greywater said.

WSC opened that lead by outscoring the Royals 5-1 when it was an 8-6 advantage Tetons. Down eight, the pendulum begin swinging the Royals direction as they inched their way back into the set. Consecutive kills by Elizabeth Lucy pulled LRSC to within one, 18-17, and later the Royals would pull even at 22-all but the Tetons held on to win the set 25-22.

But the swell had begun and WSC had no way to stop it.

The Royals (5-6, 1-1 Mon-Dak) won the second set, turning a 16-16 tie into a 25-19 victory by outscoring WSC (1-4, 0-1) 9-3 down the stretch. The Tetons had the lead three times in the third set, once at 1-0 and then at 7-6 but three consecutive points when the set was tied at 8 gave the Royals a cushion that when the the Tetons regained the lead again at 18-17, LRSC went on a 4-0 spurt that became enough to win set No. 3 25-21.

The Tetons led throughout the fourth set, leading 5-1 after consecutive aces by Constence Rollins but the Royals came back, tying the set at 12 after a Lucy kill and then again at 14-all after a Maara Nelson kill. Back to back aces by Danielle Schwanke pushed the Royals ahead for good, taking the set 25-16.

"Williston is a game where there is a lot of emotion. … In the past few years we haven't gotten Williston and I think it's the first time we've beaten them in a number of matches so here we go," Greywater said. "We're 1-1 in the conference and it'll only go up from here."

Lucy finished with 10 kills and three blocks, Nelson had 12 kills, 18 digs, Rachel Hill, the Mon-Dak Player of the Week, had 39 assists and Schwanke had 14 digs and four aces to pace the Royals.

Chris Harris can be reached at charris@devilslakejournal.com and on Twitter: @ChrisHarris_DLJ