The Lady Bulldogs suffered a 3-0 loss to the Hamlin Chargers on Thursday, September 26, on the road. Milbank’s season record fell to 5-7... Chargers Drain Lady Bulldogs’ Batteries

The Lady Bulldogs suffered a 3-0 loss to the Hamlin Chargers on Thursday, September 26, on the road. Milbank’s season record fell to 5-7 with the loss.“We had a tough challenge going against 9-4 Hamlin,” stated Milbank’s head coach, Nancy Hoeke.

In the first set, the Lady Bulldogs led 12-7, but Hamlin inched to within one point at 16-15. The teams evened the score at 18-18 and bounced back and forth, until Milbank fell behind 20-21. Hamlin went on a run to end the match at 21-25.

“With the score tied at 20-20, I felt we were right there and put ourselves in a good situation,” said Hoeke. “But, errors plagued us throughout the night, and at the end of that set, our five errors gave Hamlin the five points they needed to win.”

In the second set, Milbank again went ahead early at 10-4. Hamlin came back to knot up the score at 17-17. The Lady Bulldogs then trailed, but Tracy Pillatzki dropped in an ace to pull Milbank to within one point at 21-22. Hamlin again took charge and put the set away with three kills. The final score was 22-25. “They went into another gear and we couldn’t match them,” added Hoeke.

In the third set, the Lady Bulldogs fell behind 4-14 and 9-19 and could not overcome the deficits. The Chargers took the set at 11-25 to win the match. |

“Hamlin has strong hitters and two in the front at all times. So, that speeds up the game considerably and exposes some of our weaknesses,” said Hoeke. “But, I thought we did a pretty good job of staying with them in the first two sets. In the third, we just ran out of steam.”

Jaecy Engebretson and Madi Thue led the attack for the Lady Bulldogs with six kills each. Engebretson went 32-39 hitting. Thue was 24-33. Pillatzki added four kills on 12-15 hitting. Milbank completed 92 percent serving. Engebretson earned 9-9 with one ace, and Thue 7-9 with one ace. Pillatzki also made one ace and recorded 7-7. Averie Engebretson added another ace on 2-2 serving. Hallie Schulte was 11-12, Amy Nelson 6-6, and Cassidy
Christians 6-7.

Nelson tallied eight assists on 39-40 setting. J. Engebretson had six assists on 21- 21. Christians contributed four assists on 23-25 setting.

For the defense, Christians and Pillatzki led the team with 11 digs each. J. Engebretson followed with 10. Schulte had nine. Thue was credited with eight digs and one solo block.

Milbank travels to the Eastern Volleyball Classic on Saturday, September 28, at Dakota Valley High School.

Photo – Hallie Schulte

Staff Writer

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