Titans top Raiders

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Press Photo by Dustin Monke Richardton-Taylor junior Logan Olson, left, goes on the attack while Dickinson Trinity senior Nikki Grinstienner sets up for the block during their District 14 volleyball match on Tuesday at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

Talk about it

Dickinson Trinity volleyball opponents take note: don’t make Alyson Schieno angry.

You won’t like her when she’s angry.

“When I get mad, I just want the ball and I just want to smack it down,” Schieno said.

Schieno had her fair share of big smacks Tuesday night in a District 14 match against Richardton-Taylor. She finished with a match-high 18 kills to help the Titans to a 16-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 victory at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

While she had important points throughout the match, the junior’s five consecutive kills to break a 16-16 tie in the third game gave the Titans an advantage they desperately needed in the seesaw match.

“She’s a powerful hitter,” Trinity head coach Rayma Braaten said. “If she’s up, our team is up. We kind of depend on her ability to keep the team up and play hard.”

If Schieno set the tone in the third game, the Titans (5-4, 1-0 District 14) all responded in the fourth.

With the Raiders leading 14-11 and eyeing a deciding fifth game, Schieno punched the ball over the net to end a long rally.

That jumpstarted a 12-3 Trinity run.

Seniors Nikki Grinsteinner and Mariah Quintus led a run of nine unanswered points to seal the match.

Braaten said coming back to win was refreshing after losing a heartbreaker to Beach on Sept. 6. In that match, Trinity won the first two sets, only to watch the Buccaneers battle back for the victory.

“When we played Beach last week, it was kind of the same situation except that it didn’t turn out our way,” Braaten said. “I like that we had to go through this. We had been practicing coming back. I’m very proud of the girls for what we did and we pulled through.”

Richardton-Taylor coach Brian Filibeck felt it was a learning game for his team, too.

But he wasn’t as pleased with his team’s effort.

“We had tons of miscommunication, dropped balls all over,” Filibeck said. “That’s probably the worst we’ve played all year. I don’t know what it was.”

The Raiders (10-6, 0-1 District 14) came in having won eight of their last nine matches.

It looked like their winning ways would continue after the first game.

A pair of aces from senior Brianna Steiner and some Trinity errors contributed to a 10-1 Richardton-Taylor surge to lock up the set.

In the second game, Trinity bounced back thanks to a positive effort at the net and on the serve by Grinsteinner, who finished with four blocks, three kills and three aces.

“We started a little bit slow. I guess we did a little bit of tweaking and changed it up and it worked,” Braaten said.

In Game 3, shortly before Schieno’s outburst, Richardton-Taylor junior Halle Olson had a surge of three kills and a block to the Raiders going.

She finished with 15 kills and Steiner had nine kills and three aces, but their performances were overshadowed by the loss.

Filibeck wasn’t worried though.

He knows the Raiders will see Trinity again.

“Our district, we beat each other up,” he said. “The six teams, we see each other at a tournament or two during the year, then beat each other up again during the season and then districts again. We’ll end up playing each other three, four times.”

RT 25 17 17 19 — 1

Trinity 16 25 25 25 — 3

Kills: RT, Halle Olson 15, Brianna Steiner 9, Logan Olson 6. T, Alyson Schieno 18, Kelbie Ficek 3, Nikki Grinsteinner 3.

Blocks: RT, H. Olson 1. T, Grinsteinner 4, Ficek 3, Andrea Jirges 2.

Aces: RT, Steiner 3. T, Schieno 3, Grinsteinner 3, Mariah Quintus 2, Sammy Gordon 2.

Digs: RT, Stein 15, Steiner 10, Maggie Zentner 10. T, Grinsteinner 5, Schieno 3, Ficek 3.

Assists: RT, Amber Rebel 27. T, Gordon 19.

Records: RT 10-6, 0-1 District 14; Trinity 5-4, 1-0 District 14.

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