Lady Bulldogs Earn Comeback Victory

The Milbank Area Lady Bulldogs secured a big 3-2 comeback victory over the Groton Area Tigers in its homecoming volleyball matchup Thursday, September 17, at the Milbank Armory. Milbank Area moves to 5-6 on the season with the win.

Even though each set was tight throughout the match, things looked a little bleak for the locals.They trailed 2-0 early in the contest. Milbank Area fell 26-24 and 25-22 in the opening sets.

Slowly but surely, the Lady Bulldogs livened up and pulled together. The teams were evenly matched and knotted the score up several times all the way to 22-22. The Tigers committed an error which gave Milbank Area a one-point advantage at 23-22. A serving error by the Lady Bulldogs gave Groton Area hope with the score sitting at 23-23. Junior Caryssa Mielitz then took it home for the Lady Bulldogs with two big kills to close out the third set at 25-23.

The fourth set started out very similar to the third. Milbank Area went ahead 5-2 early in the set before Groton Area came back and took the lead at 7-12. The Lady Bulldogs slowly inched their way back into the contest and evened the score at 17-17 and again at 20-20. Molly Rick and Mikaela Hoeke took the advantage at 22-20 each with a kill. The teams teetered point-by-point and tied things up at 24-24. Mielitz and Hoeke added a kill to close out the set at 26-24 and push the match into the fifth and final set.

Milbank Area was ready and took the lead early. Groton Area came within one point at 7-6, but that was as close as they would get. With the look of determination on their faces, the Lady Bulldogs used several Groton Area errors combined with a big block by Rachelle Gabriel and Katie Cannedy and kills by Cannedy, Rick and Mielitz to secure the victory at 15-11.

Mielitz led the team with 30 kills on 80-86 hitting and 26 digs. Rick followed with 10 kills on 25-31 hitting while Gabriel added six kills on 20-23 hitting and one solo and one assisted block. Hoeke went 85-85 setting with 36 assists, 14-15 serving with one ace and 29 digs, and Mackayla Schuelke was 67-67 setting with 14 assists and 27 digs. Cannedy was 18-18 serving and added one assisted block for the Lady Bulldogs.

Junior Varsity and C Team

The Milbank Area junior varsity team secured a 2-1 victory over Groton Area with scores of 24-26, 25-19 and 15-13. The C team suffered a 2-0 loss with scores of 13-25 and 14-25. The JV holds a 4-2 record while the C team is 2-2.

Click here to view photos from this game!

Milbank Area 1, Sisseton

Milbank Area suffered a disappointing 3-1 non-conference loss to Sisseton Tuesday, September 15, in a road contest.

The Lady Bulldogs came out flat from the start and fell 25-8 in the first set.

Milbank Area dropped 25-23 in the second.

Things turned around in the third set, and the Lady Bulldogs came away with a 25-19 win to extend the match. It was not Milbank Area’s night as the team struggled in all areas and again fell 25-22 in the fourth to suffer the loss.

Mielitz led the Lady Bulldog attack with 21 kills on 55-59 hitting, three aces on 12-16 serving and 20 digs. Rick added seven kills on 24-35 hitting, one ace on 11-14 serving, 10 digs and two blocks while Cannedy had seven kills on 14-14 hitting, 9-9 serving and 20 digs. Gabriel went 19-21 hitting with five kills, four blocks and two digs, and Tori Brandenburger was 4-5 hitting with one block. Hoeke tallied 29 assists on 75-76 setting, one ace on 18-20 serving, one kill on 22-27 hitting and 15 digs while Schuelke was 56-56 setting with 10 assists, 9-9 serving and 16 digs. Rounding out the team totals was Madi Schulte with 9-11 serving and 19 digs.
The team finished the contest with five aces, 39 assists, 41 kills, 102 digs and seven blocks.

Junior Varsity and C Team

The Milbank Area junior varsity team fell 2-1 to Sisseton with scores of 17-25, 25-22 and 9-15.

Maty Lightfield had a good night leading in serving (11-11 with three aces), setting (19-19 with three assists) and contributed defensively with six digs.

“Sisseton is a very good defensive team,” noted JV coach Nancy Paulson. “The young Bulldogs had a tough time putting the ball away.”

Alexis Folk was 12-13 hitting with five kills and 7-9 serving with two aces. Gabbi Cummins went 15-18 hitting with three kills and 8-9 serving with two aces while Jaecy Engebretson was 6-6 hitting with two kills, 18-18 setting with two assists and nine digs. Sadie Holland added seven digs for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Milbank Area C team fell 2-0 by scores of 25-15 and 25-23.