Britton-Hecla and Langford Area volleyball fans were treated to a battle royal Monday night as the two cross-county rivals battled for five sets before the Lady Braves prevailed.
B-H cruised to a 25-13 opening set win but that was not an indicator of what was to come. LA went on a 13-6 run to take the second set 25-19, fought off a match point to win the third set 27-25, the Lady Braves rebounded with a tension-filled 30-28 win in set four to set up the finale when B-H scored the final five points to win 15-9.
“Langford Area was a fun game,” said B-H coach Jenna Peters. “I saw some fire in our girls that I haven’t seen a lot yet this year. They played hard and finished the game for the win.”
Peters’ squad, now 5-4, also posted a sweep over Deuel on Thursday but dropped three matches in a tournament at Clark-Willow Lake on Saturday. This week the Lady Braves travel to Redfield on Thursday and play Waverly-South Shore in Waverly on Tuesday.
“Saturday wasn’t our best volleyball,” noted Peters. “We played hard and took two teams to a third set, but we couldn’t finish. We still continue to deal with injuries in a couple of our starters. They are working hard to heal, but everything takes time. I’m excited to see what we can do against Redfield.”
In set one against Langford Area the Lady Braves went on a 13-3 run to break a 6-6 tie and take control 19-9. In set two it was the Lady Lions turn to put together an 8-1 run to go from a 13-12 deficit to a 20-14 lead and even the contest.
Long rallies and pressure-filled points characterized both the third and fourth sets. In the third B-H looked to have the upper hand with a 15-11 lead, but LA tied the game at 16-all on an Emily Olson kill. After that came five ties at 19, 20, 22, 23, and 25 before Olson had back-to-back kills and Lizzie Gustafson served an ace for the winning point.
Set four was a marathon. B-H was in control for the first half of the set, taking an early 8-2 lead and holding a 17-12 lead after a Chellon Pruitt kill and Karlie Zuehlke ace. LA cut that advantage to 18-17 but the Lady Braves looked to be in charge when a Karlie Zuehlke kill made it 23-19 and the local netters had two set points at 24-22.
LA responded with three straight kills before Pruitt pounded three straight of her own to give B-H a 26-25 lead. Olson tied it again with a kill at 26-all and it was tied at 27 and 28 before Jaelee Grupe put down a kill and Abby Lee ended the match when she found an opening in the middle for the 30-28 win to force a final set.
The Lady Braves led 7-2 behind a couple of Pruitt kills and one each from Karlie Zuehlke and Grupe, but back came LA and Olson’s kill made it 7-6. B-H still led by one at 10-9 and then reeled off five straight with a block and kill from Grupe and a match-ending kill from Lee.
Pruitt and Karlie Zuehlke both ended up with 16 kills to lead the Lady Braves at the net, and Olson pounded 17 for LA. The two teams combined for 104 kills in the match.
B-H 25-19-25-30-15
LA 13-25-27-28-9
SERVING: LA, 98-102, 9 aces (Emily Olson 19-20, 4 aces; Lizzie Gustafson 22-22, 2 aces; Brooklynn West 22-23, 2 aces; Alex Darling 16-17, 1 ace; Paytyn Marlow 11-12); BH, 98-114, 11 aces (Maddi Micko 11-12, 3 aces; Jaelee Grupe 21-23; Daynika Zuehlke 11-17, 3 aces; Kennady Van Lith 17-18, 2 aces; Karlie Zuehlke 13-15, 1 ace; Airiana Buer 12-13, 1 ace)
HITTING: LA, 155-168, 36 kills (Olson 44-47, 17 kills; Gustafson 43-46, 10 kills; Brooke Dwight 24-27, 3 kills; Mariah Tosse 13-14, 2 kills; Marlow 11-12, 2 kills; Autumn Wegleitner 16-18, 2 kills); BH, 207-229, 68 kills (Chellon Pruitt 37-39, 16 kills; K. Zuehlke 52-53, 16 kills; Grupe 39-46, 11 kills; Abby Lee 22-28, 10 kills; D. Zuehlke 23-23, 8 kills; Micko 21-24, 3 kills)
SETTING: LA, 168-171, 35 assists (Marlow 82-83, 19 assists; West 76-78, 14 assists; Wegleitner 10-10, 2 assists); BH, 219-223, 63 assists (Grupe 115-119, 33 assists; Airiana Buer 52-52, 15 assists)
DIGS: LA, 147 (Darling 33, Olson 28, Marlow 28, Gustafson 17, Brynn Samson 12); BH, 118 (Ava Teveldal 30, D. Zuehlke 23, Brynlee Schmieg 14, Grupe 13, Van Lith 11)
BLOCKS: LA, 19 (Olson 7, Marlow 4, Gustafson 3); BH, 17 (Lee 8, Grupe 6, Micko 2)
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