CANDO — The North Star Bearcats have something to prove to everyone.
If one hadn’t taken notice yet, then they just might have to after the Bearcats beat a very strong Benson County team on Tuesday.
“Our big memo here is ‘connect,’” sophomore hitter Claire Jorde said. “We all are trying to support each other and not look down on ourselves or anything like that.”
No. 2 North Star (16-3, 5-0) remained perfect in District 4 play with its best win yet: a 3-1 defeat of Benson County (13-3, 4-1) at North Star Public School. The Bearcats were coming off a good tournament showing in Devils Lake on Saturday, when they made it to the semifinals.
“I saw our team grow this past weekend from that tournament until now. It was immense,” North Star head coach Kirstin Ahlberg said. “They were playing so much faster, and their confidence grew. And you can just see that on the floor tonight.”
North Star went up 2-0 with 25-22 and 25-20 wins, then lost 25-23 before securing the match with a 25-19 triumph.
The Wildcats swept North Star in last year’s district meeting. North Star hadn’t beaten Benson County in volleyball since Oct. 5, 2023.
“We’ve been working for it this whole entire year, and we know we can do it,” Jorde said. “We can beat anyone. We just have to have confidence.”
Benson County had a marginal early lead in each of the first two sets. Each time, North Star went on a 6-0 run to go ahead 12-9 — an improbable statistical oddity for it to happen twice in a row.
The Wildcats had to fight from behind.
“We mentally weren’t there,” Benson County head coach Sheri Stuberg said. “We mentally put some pressure on ourselves that was undue, and we didn’t play our game. And if we play our game, it’s a different game. So we needed to show up mentally first.”
Led by the dynamic duo of Jorde and freshman Genevieve Ahlberg, who each tallied 13 kills on the night, North Star never relinquished the lead in either set after going up 12-9. The Bearcats were riding high — and if their excitement on the bench was any indication, they could sense the prospect of a sweep.
“We just never let the ball hit the floor,” Coach Ahlberg said. “And we were very aggressive serving as well, which was great. We got them out of system as much as possible, and that really helped us out so we could attack them.”
North Star’s play in the front row fueled the wins in the first two sets. Freshman Nora Ahlberg had four blocks on the night, while setter Blake Nicholas had a pair and Genevieve Ahlberg, Tatum Elsperger and Breilynn Thomas each had one.
“I thought our blocking today was amazing,” Coach Ahlberg said. “Benson has a really fast offense where they’re going all over the place. … They did a really good job of controlling that. We did a good job of controlling Liberty [Streyle], that she wasn’t getting her dunks like she usually does.”
It wasn’t just the official blocks in the stat column: North Star had plenty of putaways and deflections up front, playing a pesky game there all night.
“Our blocking was phenomenal, and our positivity. We didn’t get down on ourselves,” Jorde said.
The Bearcats fended off a strong early performance from Benson County middle blocker Brylee Stuberg. The junior had 12 kills and four blocks on the night, unofficially, including three blocks in those first two sets alone.
But the Wildcats, who themselves are trying to take the next step as a team after a strong 2025 campaign, weren’t done yet.
Benson County tallied five aces in the third set, including two each by Streyle and Jaycee Maddock. Streyle also got her dump-set down. The set had six lead changes.
North Star led 23-22 after a kill by Genevieve Ahlberg that took a lucky bounce off the net, and the Bearcats had several impressive defensive returns on the next point. But Benson County junior Hailey Baker tied it with a soft kill.
A block by junior Lacie Fautsch and a kill by Stuberg ended the set abruptly, 25-23 in favor of Benson County. Junior hitter Addisyn Faul had four kills in the set. She and Fautsch each recorded 10 unofficially on the night.
North Star now merely led 2-1.
“I told them that they have to fight for every point because Benson is a very good team, and you have to keep that confidence up,” Ahlberg said. “They’ve seen how well they play. They know they can do it. They just have to keep pushing and keep doing our game plan. … You can’t give them a free ball, or, as you see, they hit it right at your face.”
Stuberg had five more kills in the fourth set, including three early on to help give Benson County a 6-5 lead and a chance at evening the match.
Kills from Elsperger and Genevieve Ahlberg helped put North Star up 9-7 — the fourth and final lead change of the set.
The Bearcats went on a 7-1 run. Victory was now on their fingertips with a 19-12 advantage.
Benson County had one last push, rattling off six straight to get within a point. Baker, Faul and Stuberg all had kills in that stretch. But Jorde ended two of the next three points with kills. Ahlberg had back-to-back kills to end it.
The Bearcats completed the win over a team they got swept by last season.
“Their mental game was there,” Coach Stuberg said of the Bearcats. “Even when we blocked, they kept coming back. So yeah, that was a definite improvement from last year.”
North Star’s win over Benson County exemplifies the strides this team has made.
“They did a really good job tonight of really connecting with each other. That’s been a goal of ours all season long,” Ahlberg said. “We really need to connect with one another when things are going bad. And they did a really good job of looking each other in the eyes, and they say, ‘We got this next one.’ … They played so well.”
All the more exciting for North Star is that many of its best players are underclassmen: including but not limited to the sophomore Jorde and freshman Ahlberg, who have been getting varsity time since middle school.
“It definitely has [helped],” Jorde said. “I feel like as I grow, I just learn more and more, and I get more court-aware. It’s awesome.”
The Wildcats, meanwhile, have areas they know they can improve on.
“Our serves are one of our strongest things, and the amount of serves that we missed, it hurt,” Stuberg said. “We also got caught on our heels. And so we’ll work on those things.”
Both teams are excited to face Langdon Area/Munich
Each team still has the vaunted Langdon Area/Munich Cardinals on its schedule.
The Cardinals are the back-to-back defending Division B state champions and are off to a 18-0-1 start.
The prospect of playing an opponent like LA/M excites the Bearcats.
“They’re fantastic — I mean, two-time defending champs,” Ahlberg said. “But we’re having a lot of fun playing the kind of volleyball we are right now. And they just keep getting better. If they keep playing fast like that and keep giving it everything they have, the sky’s the limit for those kids.”
Benson County has to deal with LA/M first, this upcoming Tuesday, Oct. 6 in Maddock.
“Langdon’s always a good one,” Stuberg said. “But I’m hoping for the same energy, the [same] environment. And if we fix these errors by the time we play them, it’ll be a great match.”
North Star still has district matches against St. John, Nelson County and New Rockford-Sheyenne before hosting LA/M for its final district contest on Oct. 20.
“We shouldn’t fear them,” Jorde said. “I know we can beat anyone if we just have that momentum going forward.”