Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — The Royals were competitive in every set against an undefeated Mon-Dak Athletic Conference foe on Monday.
But wins haven’t been easy to come by for Lake Region State College volleyball, as of late. The team returned home from an 0-7 road trip, facing the challenge of a Bismarck State College team that started this season 7-0.
“We were on a really long road trip, and I felt like they were not fighting as hard as they probably should,” Royals head coach Steve Waddell said. “But tonight, I feel like we turned a corner, and it looks really, really good. I’m really proud of these girls. Our goal is to get better every night, and I felt like tonight, we did.”
Despite losing no set by more than six points, the Royals took a 3-0 loss in their return to Devils Lake Sports Center. They lost their eighth straight match, falling to 4-10 overall and 0-4 in conference matches. BSC improved to 8-0, 3-0.
“We played them already once this season, and we played them tougher this time around,” Waddell said. “So I was happy about that. I felt like this match was one where we actually fought all the way through.”
Set 1: BSC 25, LRSC 19 (1-0 Mystics)
The match’s opening moments didn’t reflect the gap in the standings. LRSC got out to a 3-0 lead, outlasting the Mystics in a long rally before winning two quick points.
BSC clawed back to tie it at 4-4, but the Royals rattled off three straight to go back ahead, 7-4. Breanna Vosberg had a sharp kill, and the Mystics made two consecutive errors.
Lexie Shearer had a kill that put LRSC up 8-6, but BSC responded with three straight.
The Mystics widened the gap to 16-11. Still, the Royals didn’t relent. BSC went for a deceptive angle but missed — one of several errors that trimmed the deficit.
A deep serve by Vosberg got LRSC within one, and a block by Shearer tied it at 18-18.
But the rest of the set belonged to the Mystics.
After reclaiming a 20-19 lead, they soared through the final five points of the set. The Royals fought hard to stay in it, but BSC simply held tight for longer.
Set 2: BSC 25, LRSC 23 (2-0 Mystics)
The teams traded leads early on. LRSC went up 8-6, then permitted six consecutive points. The Royals trailed 12-8, and were on the verge of letting it get away from them.
So Waddell called a timeout. And it completely reversed the set on its head.
“We just talked about refocusing and making sure that we’re keeping our heads in the game, and where we’re at,” Waddell said. “Just trying to bring them back and say, ‘Hey, let’s just think about where we were in the first set, and bring that energy back.’”
LRSC rattled off seven straight points after the timeout, going ahead 15-12. Hannah Thiel had two kills in that span.
The Mystics chipped away and tied it at 17-17. Kaitlyn Erickstad and Vosberg had kills to put LRSC up 18-17 and 19-18, respectively, but back came BSC with three straight points.
The Royals stayed right in there all the way to the end. It was tied at 22 apiece and 23 apiece. But the Mystics outlasted LRSC on the final point, despite two impressive desperation saves from the Royals. BSC was able to find the perfect spot on a soft hit, securing the 25-23 win and going ahead two sets to zero.
Set 3: BSC 25, LRSC 21 (3-0 Mystics)
The Royals won the first point of the set on an illegal-contact penalty. Then they lost the next nine.
They marginally scraped at the deficit the rest of the way, but they could never fully erase the 9-1 margin.
Four straight LRSC points made it a 14-9 game. BSC extended its lead to 20-11, but the Royals scored four straight again. A kill by Shearer made it 20-15.
After going down 22-16 and looking like their evening at Devils Lake Sports Center was about to come to an end, the Royals rattled off their third four-point streak of the set. Whitney Rozdeba and Thiel had kills. Despite starting in such a hole, they’d already scored more points in the third set than they did in the seemingly-closer first set.
Alas, BSC won five of the final six points, taking it 25-21.
Still — and despite the losing skid this team is mired in — Waddell was proud of how close the Royals managed to make it.
“I think we just need to keep doing what we were doing tonight,” Waddell said. “If a few things go our way differently tonight, I think it’s a totally different ball game.”
LRSC now has four straight away matches in this road-heavy schedule. The Royals will be traveling to Wahpeton for the Bell Bank Tournament, with four matches between Friday and Saturday. They’ll be at home next Tuesday against a conference opponent in Williston State College (2-10, 1-1) at 7 p.m.
