The Lake Region State College volleyball team split its first two Mon-Dak conference matches of the season.
The Royals played in Montana Tuesday and Wednesday, facing Dawson Community College and Miles Community College, respectively. They beat the Buccaneers 3-0 before falling to the Pioneers by the same score. LRSC (7-8) begins the season 1-1 in conference play, a year after posting a 7-3 mark.
LRSC beat Dawson 25-16, 25-21 and 25-9 on Tuesday in Glendive, Mont.
The Bucs were doomed by making 13 service errors.
Middle blocker Taylor Cyr stepped up for the Royals with seven kills unofficially, along with a notably impressive save in the third set.
Cheryl Hayes, who does a little of everything for LRSC, led the team with nine kills unofficially.
Kenzie Neighbors had six kills, including three in an 8-0 run that gave the Royals an 11-2 lead in the third set.
The Royals led the final set 21-6 at one point after rattling off five in a row. The Bucs ran out of gas after playing LRSC close in the second set. Dawson had a 20-19 lead in the second set after a slew of back-and-forth. Neither team led by more than three points in the set until Hayes clinched the 25-21 win with an ace.
Madison Samuelson had six kills and two aces unofficially.
The Royals had six aces as a team, all in the first two sets.
The Royals lost 3-0 the next day to Miles Community College in Miles City, Mont. Set scores were 20-25, 20-25 and 12-25.
Stroklund had six kills in the first set unofficially but only three the rest of the way.
The Royals never trailed by more than five in the first set. A Stroklund kill and Hayes ace helped them come back to tie it at 15-15. They were tied as late as 19-19, but the Pioneers won the final four points.
In the second set, Miles had a lead as large as 21-13. LRSC got within four points, aided by three Samuelson kills, but its comeback fell short in a second straight 25-20 loss.
The third set got ugly, with LRSC losing 10 consecutive points to fall behind 22-7. The Royals did win four straight of their own, as Stroklund and Hayes came up with kills, to cut the deficit to 23-12. Miles took the last two points to complete the sweep.
Samuelson led LRSC with 11 kills unofficially.
Last year, the Royals beat the Pioneers 3-1 at home, lost 3-0 to them on the road and grabbed a 3-2 win against them in the Region XIII semifinals.
LRSC plays four non-conference games in a Wahpeton tournament Friday and Saturday before resuming conference play Tuesday, in Wahpeton once again, against North Dakota State College of Science. The Royals’ conference home opener is scheduled for the following Tuesday, Sept. 29, against Williston State College.