Britton-Hecla’s volleyball squad wrapped up regular season play against Wilmot last night Tuesday and will likely meet Redfield in the first round of the Region 1A tournament this coming Tuesday in Groton.
If the Lady Braves defeat Wilmot they will complete an unbeaten season in the Eastern Coteau Conference and claim the league title.
Prior to the completion of regular season play last night Tuesday Aberdeen Roncalli (20-5) appears to have a solid lock on the number one seed and will receive a first round bye in regional play. The three first round matches will be played at the number two seed, which looks to be Groton Area, on Tuesday with semifinals to be played on Thursday, Nov. 5, at Roncalli.
The two semifinal winners will advance to the SoDak 16 set for Nov. 10 to determine state tournament qualifiers.
Based on power points prior to the final regular season contests second seed Groton Area (17-13) will play seven seed Sisseton (4-19), number three Britton-Hecla (15-6) will meet number seven Redfield (5-19), and four seed Webster Area (12-10) will tangle with fifth seed Milbank (9-15). If the Lady Braves win the opener they would meet the Groton Area-Sisseton winner in semifinal action and Roncalli will take on the Webster Area-Milbank victor.
B-H swept Redfield in regular season play 25-19, 25-16, 25-21, defeated Sisseton 25-16, 25-19, 25-10, and dropped a hard-fought match to Groton Area 24-26, 25-21, 25-18, 25-20.
The Lady Braves split a pair of matches in the past week, rebounding from an opening set loss to Great Plains Lutheran to win in four last week Tuesday, and being swept by Clark-Willow Lake on Thursday.
“GPL was a good win,” noted B-H coach Jenna Peters. “They are always a well-coached team that has a decent defense. Our first set against Clark-Willow Lake was good, but ultimately, they have too strong of hitters with three girls over six feet.”
BH 18-25-25-25
GPL 25-19-19-19
Great Plains Lutheran went on a 12-4 run to take the first set but the Lady Braves bounced back with 25-19 wins in three straight sets to get the victory.
The first set featured 11 ties and four lead changes on the way to a 14-14 tie, before GPL took charge. In set two B-H jumped out to a 13-4 lead behind three Chellon Pruitt kills and a pair of Jaelee Grupe aces, but the Panthers battled back to cut the deficit to 19-18. Tiana Tank pounded a kill and Brynlee Schmieg served an ace to key a 6-1 run to put the set away.
Set three was tied 12-all but Maddi Micko came up with a pair of kills and Grupe had a block to spark a 6-1 run for an 18-12 lead and GPL never got closer than four points the rest of the way. Daynika Zuehlke got hot at the net in the final set with five kills and Micko added four and Grupe had two aces as the Lady Braves erased an 8-6 deficit and were not seriously threatened down the stretch.
CWL 25-25-25
BH 23-14-14
The Lady Braves gave once-beaten Clark-Willow Lake all it could handle in the opening set but the Cyclones controlled things the rest of the way to earn the sweep.
Chellon Pruitt had three aces, Jaelee Grupe seven kills, and Brynlee Schmieg 11 digs to lead the local netters.
