Flasher edges Trinity in five sets at state tournament, sends Titans to 7th-place match
MINOT — From the start of Friday afternoon’s consolation semifinal match, Flasher senior outside hitter Micaela Meyer had Dickinson Trinity’s number.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Alyson Schieno and Allison Steffan
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MINOT — From the start of Friday afternoon’s consolation semifinal match, Flasher senior outside hitter Micaela Meyer had Dickinson Trinity’s number.
The 5-foot-9 senior supplied a match-high 33 kills to lead Flasher past the resilient Titans in five sets, 26-28, 25-18, 25-20, 19-25, 16-14 during the Class B state volleyball tournament at the Minot State Dome.
“We struggled for most of the match, but we started pushing at the end,” Trinity head coach Rayma Braaten said.
Meyer had another task at hand when facing Trinity. Her job was to limit Trinity senior outside hitter Alyson Schieno.
Though Schieno had 22 kills, Flasher head coach Jerlyn Gabrielson said Meyer did an outstanding job.
“(Meyer) came out so determined today,” Gabrielson said. “Usually we rely on her so much for her hitting, but she really stepped up and defended (Schieno) really well.”
A back and forth first set ended with back-to-back Katelyn Grinsteinner kills to give Trinity the 28-26 win.
Flasher (28-9) easily rattled off second- and third-set wins, but Trinity (21-18) came out strong in the fourth set. Grinsteinner had 14 kills and 16 digs.
“We had high intensity and we all played hard,” Grinsteinner said. “We were happy that we all fought hard and never gave up. We just kept going until the end.”
The Titans got out to a 10-6 lead and never really felt the pressure of Flasher bearing down on them. A Schieno kill and a hitting violation on Flasher gave Trinity the fourth-set win.
Gabrielson knew after losing the fourth set that the Bulldogs would have to get some kind of early lead in the fifth — even if it was only a couple points.
“It can go either way in that fifth set,” Gabrielson said with a smile. “It just depended on the early scoring for us. Fortunately, we’re glad that it went our way.”
Flasher did more than just get a lead, it took a commanding 9-3 advantage after a Meyer block.
However, the Titans didn’t quit fighting.
Trinity went on a 10-4 run that was backed up by a strong serving performance from Kennedy Keator. The freshman outside hitter supplied a match-high five aces.
“If I would’ve had to give out a MVP award today, it would have gone to Kennedy,” Braaten said. “When we needed her to come through, she came through.”
Eventually, Gretchen Weir knocked down back-to-back kills to knot the deciding set at 13-13.
The Bulldogs didn’t fret though. They just kept passing it to Meyer, who knocked down the match-winning kill.
“They got up to a big lead and we had to get extra energy to get back in the game,” Braaten said. “I’m really proud that they were able to do that.”
Katie Dockter dished out 43 assists for Trinity, while Schieno added 14 digs and Weir with three blocks.
For the Bulldogs, McKenna Schmidt had 48 assists, 14 digs and four aces. Melissa Campbell added 15 kills and five digs, while Brittney Reinhardt supplied 18 digs and eight kills.
Trinity plays Ray (36-4-1) at 9 a.m. Saturday in the seventh-place match, while Flasher meets Minot Our Redeemers (36-10-1) at 11 a.m. for fifth place.
“We’re just going to come out with a positive mindset and do all we can to win the game,” Grinsteinner said.
Trinity 28 18 20 25 14 — 2
Flasher 26 25 25 19 16 — 3
Kills: T, Alyson Schieno 22, Katelyn Grinsteinner 14, Gretchen Weir 6, Allison Steffan 4. F, Micaela Meyer 33, Melissa Campbell 15, Brittney Reinhardt 8, Ashton Gullickson 4.
Blocks: T, Weir 1, Brianna Soehren 1. F, Meyer 1.
Aces: T, Kennedy Keator 5, Ali Kovash 2, Schieno 1. F, McKenna Schmidt 4, Reinhardt 2.
Digs: T, Grinsteinner 16, Schieno 14, Molly Schweitzer 7, Britney Schneider 6, Katelyn Rummel 5, Jillian Stockert 5. F, Reinhardt 18, Samantha Leingang 15, Meyer 14, Schmidt 14.
Assists: T, Dockter 43. F, Schmidt 48.
Tags: state volleyball tournament, trinity titans, flasher bulldogs, sports, sports, preps, volleyball, titans, updates
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