Lady Bulldogs Surprised by Sioux Valley

The Lady Bulldogs volleyball team faced Sioux Valley on Tuesday, September 19. Milbank jumped to an early lead at  2-0 with both sets ending with scores of 25-19. Nancy Hoeke, head coach for Milbank, observed, “We played good volleyball right from the start, with good set ups and attacks. Sioux Valley was making blocking errors that we were able to take advantage of.”

The flow changed abruptly in the third set. Hoeke described the turnabout: “We got behind right away and lost the momentum. It was like a different Sioux Valley team once they got going. Their defense was relentless, and they had three or four attackers that all got hot. The speed of their game really caught us off guard. It felt like we were slow and a step behind.” 

Milbank lost the next three sets to take the loss. The latter set scores were 19-25, 17-25, and 11-15.

The Lady Bulldogs, however, maintained their prowess at the service line. They accumulated a 93 percent serving average with a total of  91 of 98. As a team, they collected seven aces.

Individually, Ella Sandvig paved the way with a perfect 14 of 14. Addisyn Krause hit 21 of 22 and put up five aces. Shaylee Schuchard was 14 of 15, including an ace. Siera Wenzl went 12 of 13; Skyler Skoog, 17 of 19; and Rachel Schulte, 13 of 15.

Schulte led the Lady Bulldog’s attack with a solid 24 kills. Skoog added 14. Schuchard had five. Claire Snaza provided four. Isabella Anderson and Hailey Zinter each made two.

Krause led the team in setting with 29 assists. Schulte contributed 18. Schulte recorded the most digs for Milbank. She made 19 bumps. Sandvig and Wenzl each had 16. Schuchard made 10, Krause added eight, and Skoog chipped in six.

Schulte supplied one solo block for the Lady Bulldogs. She, Snaza, and Anderson each made two assisted blocks. Schuchard made three assisted blocks, and Zinter made one.

“This is the kind of competition we need to keep growing, Hoeke commented. “Our weaknesses get exposed, and we will work to improve upon them.”

What’s next? The Lady Bulldogs hosted the Lady Pheasants of Redfield tonight, Thursday, September 21.