Netters Go Down Fighting

The Britton-Hecla volleyball squad dropped a pair of hard-fought matches in the past week, but Coach Megan Ochsner felt her squad is on the right track.

The Lady Braves, now 1-3, played at Wyndmere-Lidgerwood last night Tuesday. On Thursday the local netters travel to Deuel and on Saturday they will participate in a tournament at Clark-Willow Lake.

Webster Area 25-25-26 B-H 22-18-24

Britton-Hecla battled Webster Area on homecoming but the Bearcats swept the Lady Braves in a hard-fought match.

“The girls came out ready for a fight, and they put up just that,” said Ochsner. “I am really proud of our efforts on Thursday night, and we were really able to showcase the girls’ abilities. Our passing has been great all year, and the passers really do give our setters/hitters great opportunities to do big things at the net. We also blocked very well Thursday night, stopping some strong hitters. Serving was our biggest struggle, giving Webster easy points, and when you are only losing by 2-3 points and only serving 70% it’s pretty hard to come out with a win.”

Tiyanna Schott, who had a big night at the service line with seven aces, gave the Lady Braves some momentum in the opening set. She served seven straight, including three aces, to turn an 11-7 deficit into a 14-11 lead. Webster Area led just 20-19 but four straight missed served proved costly for Ochsner’s club.

In the second set the Bearcats led just 16-14 but scored five straight to take charge. Set three was a battle. Kills from Emma Kraft and Schott, along with aces from Sterling Brassfield and Schott, helped erase a three-point deficit and knot the set at 14-all.

From that point on the lead changed hands four times. A Kraft kill and McKenna Heer ace helped the Lady Braves to a 23-20 lead, but Webster Area scored six of the final seven points to earn the sweep.

Kaegan Fredrickson had five kills and Emma Kraft added four to lead B-H at the net. Jayden Bender was credited with eight assists and Katee Freeman had eight digs to lead in those departments.

SERVING: BH, 35-49, 11 aces (Tiyanna Schott 15-20, 7 aces; Kaegan Fredrickson 7-7)

HITTING: BH, 67-77, 10 kills (Fredrickson 12-13, 5 kills; Emma Kraft 7-8, 4 kills; Alyssa James 19-21, 2 kills; Schott 12-13, 2 kills)

SETTING: BH, 54-57, 12 assists (Jayden Bender 35-37, 8 assists; Heather Storbakken 19-20, 4 assists)

DIGS: BH, 22 (Katee Freeman 8, Kaegan Fredrickson 4)

BLOCKS: BH, 11 (James 1 b lock 3 assists; Kraft 2 assists; Bender 2 assists)

Tri-State 25-25-15-16-15 B-H 16-25-25-25-10

Britton-Hecla battled back from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set at Rosholt but fell just short in its comeback bid.

“In our first set and a half against Tri-State we didn’t come out like we would have liked, kind of a slow start,” said Ochsner. “By the end of the second set we started to find our groove at the net and were able to get the momentum going for two big wins in sets three and four. In set five we struggled again with momentum and then some minor injuries that unfortunately set us back and we weren’t able to come away with the win.”

Fredrickson came up with eight kills and Alyssa James added six to lead the Lady Braves at the net. James also was 12-14 at the service line with four aces, and Jayden Bender hit 22-25 serves with a pair of aces.

SERVING: BH, 81-93, 11 aces (Alyssa James 12-14, 4 aces; Jayden Bender 22-25, 2 aces; Heather Storbakken 12-13, 2 aces; Sterling Brassfield 16-17, Kaegan Fredrickson 13-14)

HITTING: BH, 79-95, 21 kills (Fredrickson 24-26, 8 kills; James 3336, 6 kills; Sterling Brassfield 11-14, 2 kills)

SETTING: BH, 87-89, 22 assists (Katee Freeman 27-31, 17 assists; Fredrickson 23-25, 6 assists)

DIGS: BH, 49 (Freeman 17, Addison Wade 7, Fredrickson 6)

BLOCKS: BH (Tiyanna Schott 4 assists, Emma Kraft 3 assists)