Riley Remmick
DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds came back home on Tuesday after just one match over the previous nine days.
Devils Lake volleyball (4-18, 0-12), now nearing the end of the season, picked up a couple of wins two weekends ago at a tournament in Langdon. Back at the Devils Lake Sports Center, the Firebirds matched up decently with Valley City (15-11, 4-7), winning the first set before ultimately falling three sets to one.
“We need to continue to play throughout the entire game, not just the first set,” Devils Lake head coach Megan Sylling said. “And then continue to push every single point. Just continuing to work in practice and keeping the girls confident.”
Devils Lake won the first set 25-19 before falling 25-19 in the second, then dropping both of the final two sets 25-18. Claire Heilman led the Firebirds with 19 kills, while Emma Hofstad and Kinley Johnson each had 10.
Set 1: Devils Lake 25, Valley City 19 (1-0 Firebirds)
A kill by Heilman tied it early on, and back-to-back kills by freshman Hofstad put Devils Lake ahead.
After the Hi-Liners tied it at 6-6, the Firebirds started finding ways to control points. They won six straight and nine of 10.
While Devils Lake built a seemingly comfortable lead, Valley City chipped back. A 5-0 run from the Hi-Liners cut the Firebirds’ lead to 16-15. So they took a timeout.
After the break, Devils Lake looked like the confident, aggressive team it had been during its prior surge. Riley Remmick recorded an ace on a ball the Hi-Liners thought was going out, while Jolie Martinson and Heilman both had kills. A 4-0 run widened the gap to 20-15.
Valley City only made it as close as 21-18 before the Firebirds won three straight and put the hammer down on the set.
Even the point that Devils Lake lost for Valley City’s 19th featured a long rally, with Hofstad hitting a near-kill that bounced off the ceiling infrastructure. Hofstad hit the ball hard and confidently all evening.
“She’s continuing to prove herself,” Sylling said. “And we’re just gonna continue to work on making good, aggressive plays at the net, staying smart at the net… and continue to grow into a great player.”
Sara Kraft instinctively tapped it into no-man’s land for the final point.
Set 2: Valley City 25, Devils Lake 19 (1-1)
Devils Lake won three straight to take an early 3-2 lead, but a 4-0 run by Valley City put it ahead 8-4.
The Hi-Liners played much more aggressively at the net, beating the Firebirds in a similar way that Devils Lake beat them in the first set. They built their lead up to 17-10, after which Devils Lake took a timeout.
“They were being more aggressive, and we were letting them get set up too much,” Sylling said. “We didn’t get them out of system like we did in the first set, and we weren’t attacking them like we were in the first set. So we need to stay more aggressive every single point.”
It stayed mostly Valley City for the remainder of the set. Johnson reached up and knocked it over for a kill, and Heilman and Hofstad both had sharp kills of their own. But the Hi-Liners outpaced the Firebirds and won by six to tie the match at a set apiece.
Set 3: Valley City 25, Devils Lake 18 (2-1 Hi-Liners)
The Firebirds won the first four points. They came out serving hard, and after outlasting Valley City in a marathon point, led 5-1.
But the Hi-Liners quickly turned the tables. They hit two aces of their own and had another block at the net. Valley City won five straight points to take a 6-5 lead.
Devils Lake fought back, winning three straight of its own to go back ahead, 8-6.
Things really fell apart for the Firebirds after building a 9-7 lead, though, as they lost seven in a row. The teams stayed fairly even with each other the rest of the way, with Devils Lake hanging in there but not quite finding the run it needed to take the lead back.
Set 4: Valley City 25, Devils Lake 18 (3-1 Hi-Liners)
Devils Lake had to fight from behind in this one, and it eventually overcame a 10-6 deficit to tie the set at 10-10. But the Hi-Liners won the next five and prevented the Firebirds from ever possessing a lead.
They kept it competitive, but ultimately fell again by the same score.
“We’re pushing past just three sets. We’re pushing into four,” Sylling said. “Now we need to push to those wins. We got the wins in the tournament in Langdon, so that was really nice, but now we need to push past and play aggressive in EDC play, and know that we can beat these teams.”
This was the third-to-last home volleyball match of the season.
