Honkers halt Hazen’s comeback, win Class B title
MINOT — The matchup was billed as Hazen’s Golden Opportunity vs. The King and Kenmare. King and her court reign supreme.By: Heath Hotzler , The Forum
- Allison Opp
MINOT — The matchup was billed as Hazen’s Golden Opportunity vs. The King and Kenmare.
King and her court reign supreme.
Junior middle hitter Katie King finished with 23 kills, and had a dominant fifth set, to lead Kenmare to a 25-21, 25-19, 16-25, 22-25, 15-4 victory against Hazen in the North Dakota Class B state volleyball tournament final Saturday at the Minot State Dome.
“In our huddle, we were like come on girls we need to pull through, we need to get it together,” said King, whose team earned its second title in the last three years. “We need to just go out and play hard and win this sucker. I just knew I had to not hang my head and hit it hard.”
Kenmare (44-3) came out blasting to open the match, using King’s powerful spike and a defense that tracked down almost everything the Bison threw at them.
The Honkers frustrated the Bison throughout the first two sets with their tenaciousness and confidence.
Kenmare’s precise passes from the back row in the face of North Dakota Class B senior player of the year Allison Opp’s sinking jump serve set the tone. Opp, who set a Class B single match record with 15 aces serves in Hazen’s semifinal win, could only get three to drop in against the Honkers.
The losses for Hazen (42-4) in the opening two sets were the team’s first of the tournament. The Bison swept Park River/Fordville-Lankin and Stanley to reach the final.
“Their defense is amazing,” said Opp, who had 19 kills. “Every ball that we hit they seemed to always get a touch on it. They were very, very consistent with that all night.”
The Bison battled back from the brink of elimination to force a fifth set.
Kenmare held a 21-19 advantage in the fourth set when Hazen scored five in a row to take control.
However, King became unstoppable in the fifth set. Helped by near-perfect passes by setter Alexis Munson, King had eight kills to help the Honkers secure the title.
“Our defense was amazing. … They were just all in the right spot at the right time,” King said. “We were all just fired up and I think that helped a lot.”
The Forum and The Dickinson Press are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
Kenmare 25 25 16 22 15 — 3
Hazen 21 19 25 25 4 — 2
KENMARE (kills-blocks-aces): Munson 1-0-1 (36 assists), Zietz 0-0-0, Harris 0-0-0 (50 digs), Froseth 9-1-0, Barnhart 2-6-0, Miller 3-0-0, Essler 0-0-0, Lemere 5-0-0, King 23-5-0.
HAZEN: Hansana 0-0-0, Maas 6-1-4, Opp 19-4-3, Borud 2-0-0 (16 digs, 33 assists), Bohrer 6-2-1 (16 digs), Grimm 5-2-1, Berg 2-0-0, Oakland 0-0-0 (16 digs).
Tags: sports, preps, volleyball, hazen
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