Milbank Defeated in Volleyball Battle of the Bulldogs

The MHS volleyball team fought their Battle of the Bulldogs on Tuesday, October 15 in Madison. Milbank fell 3-0 to Madison. Madison is now 16-7 for the season, and Milbank dropped to 7-12 following the loss.

“I thought we played pretty well and kept working to make defensive adjustments,” stated Milbank’s head coach Nancy Hoeke. “We got behind quickly in every set, and then had good runs to get close, but couldn’t sustain the high level of error-free play long enough to overcome Madison’s power.”

Milbank fell behind early at 6-16 in the first set, but inched their way back into the competition. They maintained a three to four-point deficit, but eventually lost at 17-25.

Down the stretch in the second set, Milbank battled to within two points several times, but could not overcome the strong hitting of Madison. Milbank dropped the second set at 19-25.

Late In the third set, Milbank was within four points at 17-21, but fell at 20-25.

“We kept a positive attitude and kept battling,” said Hoeke. “Our goal was to score 18 points, and we did that in two out of the three sets and 17 points in the other. So, it wasn’t too terrible. It was hard to get our share of kills when our passes were off and therefore setting is off. That happened because of Madison’s aggressive attacking and serving.”

Jaecy Engebretson led the Milbank offense with five kills on 28-34 hitting, six assists on 21-21 setting, 8-8 serving, and 14 digs. Elsie Rogers followed with five kills on 11-15 hitting and two digs. Madi Thue and Amy Nelson added four kills each with 23-24 and 9-9 hitting, respectively. Thue also tacked up 5-5 serving and had nine digs. Nelson contributed 28-29 setting with five assists,12-14 serving including two aces, and seven digs.

Tracy Pillatzki contributed two kills on 12-14 hitting, 6-8 serving, 2-2 setting and six digs. Cassidy Christians totaled 40-41 setting with two assists, 7-7 serving, 4-5 hitting, and eight digs. Hallie Schulte led the Milbank defense with 24 digs. She also tallied 9-9 serving, 2-2 setting, and 2-2 hitting with one kill.