Midgets make quick work of Mandan, sweeping home opener
Not many problems arose for the Dickinson High volleyball team in its home opener.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Rachel Schroeder and Keely Hutchens
Not many problems arose for the Dickinson High volleyball team in its home opener.
The Midgets trailed once, 1-0 to start the second set, and claimed a 25-18, 25-12, 25-14 sweep of West Region opponent Mandan on Thursday at DHS gymnasium.
“Mandan had some problems on ball control and gave us a lot of easy opportunities,” Dickinson head coach Jay Schobinger said. “We just took advantage of that. That was the bottom line, we were able to take advantage of their miscues, but we played pretty solid volleyball all the way around.”
The main page from the Dickinson’s playbook was to communicate at all points in time. The Midgets (5-3, 1-0 West Region) kept that A key through the entire match.
“It feels good,” Dickinson senior setter Ali Moody said. “We all communicated all the time. We were always on the same page.”
Dickinson took command right away in the first set, going on a 5-0 run.
The Midgets continued to communicate well and spread the ball as senior Abby Grove finished off the first set with one of her 10 kills. Grove ended the three-set match with eight digs, four aces and two blocks.
“We were able to spread the ball around and get a lot of people involved,” Schobinger said. “It makes the game a whole lot easier.”
Mandan (3-6, 0-2 West Region) took its only lead of the game to start the second set, but it was short lived as Moody dropped five of her nine aces during a 10-1 run. Dickinson didn’t waste any time finishing out that set, running away with the 25-12 win.
Moody added 19 assists and 10 digs. The senior setter said she feels comfortable setting the ball to anyone on the floor.
“It’s great,” Moody said. “In tight situations you can set it to anyone, you don’t just have to go outside. You can go anywhere, because everyone can hit.”
The third set wasn’t any different. The Midgets jumped out to a 12-4 lead, set the cruise control and sent Mandan packing down Interstate 94 after an hour of play.
Dickinson senior middle hitter Rachel Schroeder, who had seven kills, had the final two kills of the match.
Schobinger said the brightest spot against Mandan was the learning experience a handful of the players received at the East-West Classic last weekend in Bismarck.
“What I liked was we had a lot of people learn from last weekend and make adjustments,” Schobinger said. “They played a lot better tonight, because of that. That’s what you want to do every time you step on the floor.”
Dickinson’s Sierra Rohr supplied five kills. Taylor Cooper added four blocks.
For the Braves, JayLyn Russell led the team with five kills, followed by Lexi Goldade and Sydney Sneed with four each. Sneed added 14 assists and 10 digs.
“Defensively, I think we picked it up and got a lot more digs than we had in previous matches,” Mandan head coach Anna Neubauer said. “Serve-receive is still killing us and our offense wasn’t quite up to par.”
Moody was hoping one of the sets would come down to the wire, but more than likely her wish will be granted when the team travels to play defending West Region champion Bismarck Century at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
“I think we’ll go in there doing just fine,” she said. “They lost some people, we lost some people, but I think we have a lot better team connection this year. It will be a tight match, but I think we can win.”
Mandan 18 12 14 — 0
Dickinson 25 25 25 — 3
Kills: M, JayLyn Russell 5, Lexi Goldade 4, Sydney Sneed 4. D, Abby Grove 10, Rachel Schroeder 7, Sierra Rohr 5.
Blocks: M, Rachelle Harr 2, Shelby Gustafson 2. D, Taylor Cooper 4, Grove 2.
Aces: M, Harr 1, Gustafson 1. D, Ali Moody 9, Grove 4, Jessica Priebe 2.
Digs: M, Gustafson 15, Sneed 10. D, Moody 10, Grove 8, Mackee Hoffmann 5.
Assists: M, Sneed 14. D, Moody 19, Madison Schobinger 3.
Records: M 3-6, 0-2 West Region, D 5-3, 1-0.
Tags: dickinson midgets, sports, preps, volleyball
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