Beulah edges Titans in thrilling title match

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BEULAH — The Dickinson Trinity volleyball team had Beulah on the ropes and neither team let up.

Ultimately, Jaime Murschel struck the final point to lead Beulah past the Titans in a five-set thriller 23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 23-25, 15-13 for the District 14 championship match on Tuesday.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Beulah head coach Kevin Peterson said. “They fought the entire way. Proud is just the word.”

The No. 3 seed Titans managed to squeak out an opening-set win, but the No. 1 seed Miners took control in the second and third sets. Murschel posted a team-high 24 kills, 17 digs and three aces. Nicole Schramm and Kelsie Schmidt each posted 12 kills. Lakin Kessler added 51 assists.

“In sets two and three I thought we just dictated play,” Peterson said. “Our ball control was very good and we forced them into mistakes.”

Trinity’s powerful outside hitter senior Aly Schieno had a match-high 26 kills and 52 digs. Rayma Braaten, the Titans’ second-year head coach, said it was astonishing.

“Schieno had an amazing game,” Braaten said. “She showed everybody that she can be the best hitter in the region. She showed up to play. I’m so proud of her performance.”

The Titans rallied back after being down by seven late in the fourth set. Braaten and Peterson each commented on how well Trinity was playing at that point in time.

“Everything was going well in the fourth set. We were up 16-9 and Trinity just absolutely caught fire,” Peterson said. “Everything they touched was hitting the ground. We got a little careless and a little rattled.”

“We started really strong and then in the middle, we started showing some of our weaknesses,” Braaten said. “It was amazing to see them come up with a win in the fourth set. We were losing by quite a bit.”

The fifth set was a battle until the end. It was tied 12-12 before Beulah broke free.

Gretchen Weir added 12 kills and six blocks, while Katelyn Dockter supplied 40 assists and one ace.

“We had them scared,” Braaten said. “I know we had them worried about us getting them eventually. We had them on their toes. They had to work hard to beat us.”

Each team has already punched its ticket to the Region 7 tournament.

Beulah faces District 13 No. 4 seed New England at 3 p.m. Monday at the Killdeer High School gymnasium while Trinity faces District 13 No. 3 seed Heart River at 7:30 p.m.

“This will give us confidence going into the regional tournament,” Braaten said. “We had a lot of things against us, but we still played really well.”

Trinity 25 18 15 25 13 — 2

Beulah 23 25 25 23 15 — 3

Kills: T, Aly Schieno 26, Gretchen Weir 12. B, Jaime Murschel 24, Nicole Schramm 13, Kelsie Schmidt 12.

Blocks: T, Weir 6, Allison Steffan 3, Brianna Soehren 2, Ashley Kerkman 2. B, Schramm 3, Lakin Kessler 2, Cassidy Schutt 1.

Aces: T, Ali Kovash 4, Katelyn Dockter 1, Schieno 1, Kennedy Keator 1. B, Murschel 3, Johansen 2, Kessler 2.

Digs: T, Schieno 52, Jillian Stockert 46, Katelyn Grinsteinner 27, Katelyn Rummel 27. B, Schmidt 24, Murschel 17, Delaney Johansen 13.

Assists: D, Dockter 40. B, Kessler 51.

Richardton-Taylor 3,

Glen Ullin-Hebron 0

Richardton-Taylor stayed cool, calm and collected to take a sweep of Glen Ullin-Hebron by a total of 10 points.

The No. 2 seed Raiders claimed a ticket to the Region 7 tournament defeating the Bearcats 25-21, 27-25, 25-21.

Logan Olson had a match-high nine kills, while Sami Steiner added eight and Haley Butterfield had seven for Richardton-Taylor. Steiner added five aces and Butterfield had seven digs. Hannah Rummel dished out 28 assists, two aces and seven digs.

Laikyn Winckler led the Bearcats with seven kills and five digs.

Richardton-Taylor earned District 14’s No. 3 seed and faces District 13 runner-up Mott-Regent at 4:30 p.m. next Monday at the region tournament.

GUH 21 25 21 — 0

RT 25 27 25 — 3

Kills: GUH, Laikyn Winckler 7, Teasha Voegele 5, Kendra Gerving 3, Sabrina Horst 3. RT, Logan Olson 9, Samantha Steiner 8, Haley Butterfield 7.

Blocks: GUH, Horst 1.

Aces: GUH, Voegele 2, Bethany Morman 2. RT, Steiner 5, Hannah Rummel 2.

Digs: GUH, Alyssa Wehri 8, Winckler 5, Voegele 5. RT, Rummel 7, Butterfield 7, Maggie Zenter 6, Steiner 6.

Assists: GUH, Wehri 7, Kari Gerving 5. RT, Rummel 28

Hazen 3, Killdeer 0

Hazen didn’t have any trouble sweeping Killdeer out of the District 14 tournament. The Bison won 25-19, 25-10, 25-15 ending Region 7 host Killdeer’s season.

Rachael Hansana, who won District 14 senior athlete of the year, had four kills, three aces, six digs and 18 assists for Hazen, which faces District 13 champion Beach at 6 p.m. next Monday.

Alyss Kovash posted five kills and two blocks for Killdeer.

Killdeer 19 10 15 — 0

Hazen 25 25 25 — 3

Kills: K, Kelsey Knutson 6, Alyss Kovash 5, Taylor Achter 4. H, Stephanie Ziegler 6, Ashton Carter 4, Rachael Hansana 4.

Blocks: K, Kovash 2, Knutson 1, Allison Scheetz 1. H, Carter 2, Krista Slaubaugh 1, Autumn Johnson 1, Hannah Zimmerman 1.

Aces: K, Knutson 2, Brittney Berg 1. H, Tayler Dockter 4, Hansana 3. Carter 2, Ziegler 2, Erin Ost 2.

Digs: K, Jane Dukart 13, Jocelyn Walker 6, Berg 4. H, Dakota Wood 12, Maggie Jacobson 7, Hansana 6.

Assists: K, Berg 11, Hannah Balderas 2, Ashley Birkle 1. H, Hansana 18, Wood 2.

AWARDS

Senior athlete of year: Rachael Hansana, Hazen.

Coach of year: Kevin Peterson, Beulah

All-District 14

Hazen: Rachel Hansana, Ashton Carter.

Dickinson Trinity: Aly Schieno, Halle Olson, Gretchen Weir.

Beulah: Lakin Kessler, Nicole Schramm, Jaime Murschel, Kelsie Schmidt.

Richardton-Taylor: Hannah Rummel, Maggie Zentner.

Glen Ullin-Hebron: Bethany Moorman.

Tags: high school volleyball, district 14 tournament, trinity titans, sports, preps