Lady Bulldogs Work Hard on the Court

The Milbank Area Lady Bulldogs worked hard and maintained their composure despite a 3-0 loss to Northwestern Saturday, October 14, in a road matchup. The locals dropped their season record to 8-13 following the loss.

“I was pleased with our effort,” stated Bulldog head coach Nancy Hoeke. “They (Northwestern) are 27-1 and an outstanding team. We scored 16 in each set, and we worked hard to get to 16 each time, so I was glad the girls kept fighting and working to the end.”

Milbank trailed early in the first set, but fought their way back to even the score up at 12-12, and 15-15. Northwestern went on a short run to break the set open at 15-18. The Lady Bulldogs pulled to within two points with a kill by Jaecy Engebretson, but the opponent went on another seven point run to close out the first set at 16-25.

The teams played evenly to start the second set. Northwestern surged ahead slightly at 11-14. Milbank Area kept plugging away but could not overcome the deficit and fell again by the score of 16-25.

The third and final set remained much the same. An evenly played match began, but quickly led to a 10-16 deficit. The locals continued to work hard and pulled to within six points at 14-20. The Wildcats were too much to handle, and Milbank Area lost 16-25.

Molly Rick led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 kills on 24-27 hitting, one ace on 9-9 serving, 15 digs and one block. Engebretson followed with seven kills on 29-30 hitting and 11 digs. Gabbi Cummins contributed five kills on 9-11 hitting, 7-7 serving and 10 digs. Maty Lightfield ran the offense and produced 20 assists on 61-63 setting, one ace on 7-7 serving and eight digs.

Other team leaders for Milbank Area were Jaden Hoeke, 6-6 serving; Makayla Johnson, 9-10 serving, and Katie Wollschlager, one ace on 2-3 serving.
The Lady Bulldogs will host Sisseton Tuesday, October 17, in their final home game of the regular season. The C team will begin at 5 p.m. with the junior varsity at 6 p.m. and varsity at approximately 7 p.m.