Lady Bulldogs Play in Nail Bitter

The Lady Bulldogs nearly pulled off a comeback win, but were denied the victory as they fell 3-2 to their rival the Ortonville Trojans. The non-conference volleyball game was played Thursday, October 5, in front of a full house at the Milbank Armory.

Things looked a little bleak for the Lady Bulldogs as Ortonville took charge from the start and maintained the lead throughout the first set. The Trojans won 25-18.

Milbank also trailed at the start of the second set, but knotted the score at 17-17. Unforced errors by the Dawgs led to an Ortonville eight-point run. The Lady Trojans won the set at 25-17.

The Lady Bulldogs turned things around in the third set. Milbank went ahead 19-17 late in the set. The score was tied up at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23. Milbank wrapped up the 25-23 victory with commanding kills by Molly Rick and Jaden Hoeke.

The close battle continued into the fourth set. Milbank went ahead 5-1 early on, but Ortonville inched their way back to even the score at 14-14. Play continued with the score tied four times. Milbank surged ahead to 22-19 with two consecutive aces by Jaecy Engebretson and an Ortonville error. The teams exchanged kills before Milbank committed a serving error to move the score to 23-21. Gabbi Cummins belted out a kill, but the Lady Bulldogs suffered from another unforced error to push the score to 24-22. Ortonville blocked a Milbank hit and fired down a kill to even the score at 24-24. A Milbank error gave the Trojans the 24-25 advantage, but Rick produced a kill to tie the score at 25-25. Ortonville then committed two errors, giving the Lady Bulldogs the 27-25 victory.

The match went down to the wire. Milbank fell behind early at 1-4, but worked their way back to tie the score at 8-8. Two Trojan kills followed by an ace, gave Ortonville the 8-11 lead. The Lady Bulldogs knotted the score again at 11-11 with big kills by Rick. Ortonville then took charge. They made three consecutive kills to take the lead at 11-14. The Trojans sealed the deal with an ace to take the set at 11-15.

Rick led the Lady Bulldogs with 20 kills on 55-60 hitting and 16 digs. Cummins followed with nine kills on 34-35 hitting, 16 digs, and three blocks. Engebretson tallied seven kills on 32-38 hitting, three aces on 14-14 serving, and 16 assists on 51-52 setting. Hoeke contributed six kills on 18-21 hitting, 14 digs, and one block. Maty Lightfield had 17 assists on 62-63 setting and two aces on 10-12 serving. Makayla Johnson made two aces on 13-16 serving and one block.

On the floor, are Makayla Johnson and Molly Rick with Maty Lightfield looking on.