Kadrmas has 24 kills as Cougars survive pesky Raiders

• Quinn Steffan and Kaitlyn Rahr

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Richardton-Taylor senior Brianna Steiner, left, hits into a block of Heart River seniors Kaitlyn Rahr, middle, and Quinn Steffan, right, on Monday afternoon during the Region 7 volleyball tournament quarterfinals at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

Talk about it

Heart River volleyball coach Craig Pool gave his team the weekend off to rest in preparation for the Region 7 tournament.

“Usually we perform better on Monday when we actually have a couple days off,” Pool said.

Next time, Pool may rethink that strategy.

The District 13 champion Cougars had their tentative streaks, but turned to their big-hitting seniors in the clutch and moved one step closer to the region championship match with a 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 25-21 quarterfinal victory over Richardton-Taylor, the No. 4 seed from District 14, on Monday afternoon at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.

Heart River’s Miranda Kadrmas had 24 kills and added four blocks and three aces while Quinn Steffan tacked on 14 kills and five blocks.

The senior duo helped the Cougars break away in the third set after the Raiders knotted the match with a come-from-behind win in the second set.

The Cougars (30-5) went on a 9-0 run to take a 24-11 lead in the third set and closed out the win with a Kadrmas kill.

“Sometimes we overlook teams or don’t come in really focused, so we don’t play as intense as we could,” Kadrmas said. “Then, we just don’t play our game really. We just play their game and we’re on defense more than we should be on offense.”

That momentum helped Heart River through the match-clinching fourth set, which had 14 ties and was last knotted at 21 before the Cougars broke away with a Nettie Splichal kill and two more from Kadrmas.

“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Richardton-Taylor head coach Brian Filibeck said. “Our last few matches have been up and down, we just can’t find that extra gear to kick into.”

The Cougars bounced back from a rash of hitting errors early in the match and appeared to be turning the tide toward a two-set lead when the Raiders (25-12) bucked up.

Paced by senior Brianna Steiner, who had 13 kills, and junior Halle Olson, who added 11, the Raiders went on a 9-2 run to take a 20-17 lead and never trailed again, holding off a late Heart River burst and sealing the set on Sami Steiner’s flat-footed kill into the Cougars’ back row.

Heart River will face District 14 runner-up Dickinson Trinity at 6 p.m. today in semifinals.

“We’ll play hard and know that we don’t have any regrets for our season,” Kadrmas said.

RT 22 25 14 21 — 1

HR 25 23 25 25 — 3

Kills: RT, Brianna Steiner 13, Halle Olson 11, Logan Olson 5, Lindsay Tyrrell 4, Sami Steiner 3. HR, Miranda Kadrmas 24, Quinn Steffan 14, Nettie Splichal 7, Alexis Rustan 3, Brittney Tift 3.

Blocks: RT, Logan Olson 1. HR, Steffan 5, Kadrmas 4, Splichal 4.

Aces: RT, Amber Rebel 2, Brooklyn Miller 2. HR, Kadrmas 3, Steffan 2, Splichal 2.

Digs: RT, McKinzee Stein 25, B. Steiner 18, Miller 16, Maggie Zentner 13. HR, Shanea Haugtvedt 17, Splichal 14, Steffan 12, Kadrmas 10.

Assists: RT, Rebel 34. HR, Splichal 24, Kaitlyn Rahr 14, Jada Mattson 7.

Records: RT 25-12, HR 30-5.

Tags: high school volleyball, region 7, sports, preps, volleyball