Rogue Stephens/Photo by Noah Clooten
MINNEWAUKAN — The North Star Bearcats have been one of the best volleyball teams in Class B this season. They were most recently ranked No. 6, in fact.
But after getting swept by No. 10 Our Redeemer’s on Tuesday, they needed a confidence boost. And that’s exactly what they got on Thursday.
“They were a really good team,” North Star hitter Rogue Stephens said of Our Redeemer’s. “And it really showed us what we needed to improve on: blocking, all kinds of other things like that. We just came out and worked at practice, and came and got it today.”
The Bearcats (9-2, 1-1) defeated Four Winds/Minnewaukan (3-8, 0-3) in straight sets. Their only previous region match came back on Sept. 5, when they lost 3-1 to North Prairie. So despite a successful start to the season, this was their first region victory.
“We really tried to focus on our emotional toughness and staying positive,” North Star head coach Kirstin Ahlberg said. “Because we’ve had such a rolling first part of the season. So when we came against Our Redeemer’s, they were really tough, which was great. They had great competition… And I thought we stayed positive throughout the whole game, even when it was close.”
The win gave North Star something to build on, but also a chance at a learning opportunity. The Bearcats nearly relinquished a large lead in the first set, and played a tight third set that came down to the final points. It was not a flawless victory.
“We need to clean up our unforced errors,” Ahlberg said. “That is a big part of what we need to focus on, or improving on. So we can’t serve in the net, or we can’t hit it out of bounds, or things like that. Those things we clean up, we’ll be just fine.”
Set 1: North Star 25, Four Winds/Minnewaukan 15 (1-0 Bearcats)
One of the set’s most competitive points was the very first one. It was a long rally, nearly won multiple times with strong hits from Suri Gourd. But North Star kept the point alive, and eventually forced an error.
The Bearcats sprung to a sizable lead from there. Aided by FW/M errors, North Star looked to be in complete control. The Indians found themselves off balance and overwhelmed by the Bearcats’ attacks. At 8-0, it had the makings of what could become a quick night.
So FW/M took a timeout.
Something switched for the Indians. They won three straight points after the break. A strong serve by Gourd set up a kill for Cailee Hanson, and Gourd smacked an ace on the next point to make it 8-3.
A 4-0 run from the Indians made it as close as 9-7. The Bearcats made two errors of their own, and Ava Gourd had a kill while Hanson had an ace. North Star suddenly looked beatable.
Still, the Bearcats gradually widened the gap to 15-9. A kill by Bessonova on a perfect set gave North Star an 18-10 lead, and it never looked back. Despite playing fairly evenly with the Indians for a solid chunk of the set, the Bearcats took it by 10 points. S. Gourd and Caprial Littlewind each still recorded another ace down the stretch for FW/M.
Set 2: North Star 25, Four Winds/Minnewaukan 9 (2-0 Bearcats)
Ultimately, North Star proved to be the more consistent team.
Errors largely hurt the Indians in a rout of a second set. Two kills by Rogue Stephens helped the Bearcats build a 5-1 lead — which was trimmed to 5-4, helped by a kill from FW/M’s A. Gourd.
But North Star took the next 10 points to run away with it. The match took a brief detour to become the Stephens show — she had five aces amidst the 10-0 run, including four in a row.
“It’s the best. It’s the best feeling, honestly,” Stephens said. “When everyone’s hype, and the serves just keep going.”
Stephens’ five aces led the team. Claire Weber was right behind her with four. Stephens also had the second-most kills on the team with seven.
“She came to serve, and she did it well,” Ahlberg said of Stephens. “She was aggressive. And then when she hit, she let it fly.”
A. Gourd had a kill and an ace back-to-back for FW/M, getting the Indians to within a 22-8 margin. But North Star took eight of the final nine points to hold FW/M to a single digit. The run included back-to-back aces from Karlee Gefroh, who led the team with eight kills.
Set 3: North Star 25, Four Winds/Minnewaukan 21 (3-0 Bearcats)
After a North Star walloping in the second set, the Indians made the Bearcats hold their breaths for a second in the third set.
The Bearcats committed an error and illegal contact that made it 2-0 right off the bat. They got it back to 3-3, and the teams traded points, with North Star not taking a lead until 6-5.
Nakenya Dubois had a diving save for FW/M, but Mattea Wanzek finished off the point for the Bearcats to put them up 8-6.
The Indians fought right back. A. Gourd had a kill, and the Indians outpaced on the Bearcats on consecutive long rallies to go up 9-8. North Star held a timeout to refresh.
Stephens made an error, giving FW/M its fourth straight point. She briefly held her hands to her head as she watched the ball go in the net. Alas, she redeemed herself with two consecutive kills, including a crafty, soft hit in the perfect spot that tied it back up.
“I’m very proud of myself, along with everyone else,” Stephens said. “Love the serving. Love to serve. And yeah, I’m happy with it.”
The teams went back and forth until North Star widened the margin a little bit with a 4-0 run, taking a 16-13 lead. Gefroh had back-to-back kills, and Annabelle Staus smacked an ace. Ashley Nikolaisen, who came in for injured setter Jorie Ahlberg, stayed calm for the kill that tied the set.
“She did a great job. She came in and made some really nice plays,” K. Ahlberg said of Nikolaisen. “Whenever you take your setter out of your core of your game, that kind of runs the offense, it’s a little bit of a change. And I thought our players adapted to that well.”
But once again, the Indians prevented North Star from sealing it up. FW/M won six straight points after trailing 17-14; S. Gourd had a kill, and Bessonova, North Star’s tallest player, hit three balls in the net. After losing the lead, the Bearcats took another timeout.
“We had to adjust,” Stephens said. “We talked about saying composed.”
And when they came back out, they looked more like the team that had won the second set 25-9. They countered the Indians’ 6-0 run with their own 6-0 run. A Wanzek kill and a Weber ace won the final two points for North Star, completing the 3-0 sweep.
With two tournaments and seven region contests still ahead of them, the Bearcats have a lot of time to continue to prove themselves and secure a good position for the playoffs.
“I’d love to see us get a good spot in our regional tournament,” Stephens said. “Just improving and having fun. We’re all about having fun.”
North Star next plays against Park River/Fordville-Lankin at Park River High School on Tuesday at roughly 7:30 p.m.
FW/M’s next action is Monday against Drake-Anamoose at Drake High School around 7 p.m.
