The Milbank Lady Bulldogs wrapped up their regular season with three tough losses and will take a 10-18 record into the post-season. Milbank has... Lady Bulldogs Wrap Up Regular Volleyball Season, Prepare for Region Play

The Milbank Lady Bulldogs wrapped up their regular season with three tough losses and will take a 10-18 record into the post-season. Milbank has been seeded number six for the Region 1A tournament, and will travel to Webster, who is the number 3 seed, for the first round of the tournament on Tuesday, November 5. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Milbank lost its final three matches of the regular season. The locals fell 3-2 to a surprising Tiospa Zina team on Monday, October 28, on their home court. The Lady Bulldogs felt confident as they captured the 25-16 first set win. Tiospa Zina fired back to claim the second set at 20-25. Milbank answered with a 25-20 third set victory before dropping the final two sets at 23-25 and 12-15.

Jaecy Engebretson led the Lady Bulldogs offensive attack with 24 kills on 61-68 hitting, three aces on 20-23 serving, nine assists, and 25 digs. Madi Thue followed with 11 kills on 43-53 hitting, four aces on 11-12 serving, three assists, and 20 digs. Elsie Rogers tallied three kills on 19-23 hitting and had four digs while Tracy Pillatzki added two kills on 11-13 hitting, one ace on 11-12 serving, six digs, and two solo blocks.

Amy Nelson and Cassidy Christians ran the offense, each contributing 17 assists on the night. Nelson dropped in one ace on 13-17 serving, had three kills on 9-9 hitting, and had 17 digs while Christians went 10-11 serving and had 30 digs.

Hallie Schulte led the Lady Bulldog defense with 39 digs. She also belted out one ace on 15-15 serving and had one assist on 6-6 setting. Other team leaders were Siri Bien, three kills on 10-10 hitting and 6-8 serving, and Averie Engebretson, 2-2 setting and 1-1 serving.

Milbank traveled to Groton on Friday, October 25, and battled their way to a 3-1 loss. “We played a pretty good match,” stated Milbank head coach Nancy Hoeke. “At times it felt like the score should have been closer, yet we were still down by 6-7 points. It seemed like we were working so hard, but just couldn’t get anywhere.”
Milbank captured the opening set victory at 25-23. Groton came back to win the final three sets at 17-25, 14-25, and 21-25.

J. Engebretson led Milbank with 24 kills on 56-64 hitting, 7-9 serving, eight assists on 33- 34 setting, 23 digs, and two solo blocks. Thue knocked down 12 kills on 37-46 hitting, one ace on 10-11 serving, and 20 digs. Rogers chipped in with four kills on 22-23 hitting, and 1-1 serving while Nelson went 10-13 hitting with three kills, 10-10 serving, 60-63 setting with 21 assists, and 18 digs. Pillatzki rounded out the attack for the Lady Bulldogs with two kills on 8-10 hitting and went 13-14 serving. Christians tallied 12 assists on 47-49 setting, 11-12 serving, and 17 digs. Schulte went
12-14 serving and had a team high, 36 digs. Bien and A. Engebretson each went 2-2 serving on the night.

The Lady Bulldogs hosted Redfield-Doland on Thursday, October 24, in a rescheduled match at the Milbank Armory. Milbank fell 3-0 with scores of 18-25, 20-25, and 21-25. “Redfield is a good team,” noted Hoeke. “They kept aggressively sending the ball over and made great defensive plays that wore us down. It felt like we just weren’t fast enough getting our blocks up or moving on defense to slow them down. We battled though and were close at point 20 in two of the sets.”

J. Engebretson led the team with 16 kills on 40-52 hitting, 6-8 serving, six assists on 15- 18 setting, 10 digs and one solo block. Thue added eight kills on 30-34 hitting, 5-5 serving, and 16 digs while Pillatzki went 13-15 hitting with two kills and was 11-11 serving.

Nelson led the offense with 11 assists on 45-46 setting, two aces on 11-12 serving and 12 digs while Christians had six assists on 45-45 setting, 9-9 serving and 17 digs. Schulte led the Milbank defense with 20 digs and dropped in one ace on 12-13 serving.

Staff Writer

No comments so far.

Be first to leave comment below.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *