DEVILS LAKE — The Royals live another day.
In a rematch of last week’s regular season finale against Dakota College at Bottineau, the Lake Region State College volleyball team hosted the Lumberjacks for its first playoff game on Wednesday. And the Royals (14-20, 2-10), as they did twice in the regular season, beat Bottineau (3-19, 2-10) in straight sets.
The success came with a lineup adjustment, as Sienna Gudnason played hitter and setter for LRSC, while Hannah Thiel moved from setter to the outside.
“We had a week, and I came up with a new plan. And we executed it,” Royals head coach Steve Waddell said. “We need another attack in there, and [Thiel] delivered.”
The Royals won 25-14 in each of the first two sets, then a closer 25-22 in the third set. They’ll now play the winner of Dawson Community College (5-24, 4-8) vs. Williston State College (6-19, 5-7) in the second round.
“We’ve been right there in both of those matches with those guys,” Waddell said. “I think we’re just gonna have to clean up a little bit of our offense.”
Set 1: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 14 (1-0 Royals)
The Royals came out slightly flat, trailing 4-2 out of the gates. The Jacks gifted them two points on service errors, but LRSC made an error and a net violation, and got caught off balance on an ace.
But the Royals quickly settled into a groove. They took five in a row, with points won by Gudnason, Lexie Shearer, Kaitlyn Erickstad and Thiel. The Jacks also got discombobulated on a miscommunication where nobody touched it.
A crosscourt kill by Thiel extended the lead to 9-5. Then, after an LRSC error, the Royals really separated themselves with a 9-0 run. Thiel stayed pesky, while Bottineau committed multiple penalties and continuously got tied up.
The Jacks chipped back from 18-6 to play more evenly the rest of the way, but the Royals still handily took the set. Shearer had a couple of soft kills, while Thiel and Breanna Vosberg helped put the set away.
Set 2: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 14 (2-0 Royals)
The Royals were the better team all the way through this one, with no particularly big swings on either side.
LRSC led 3-0 right away after an ace by Thiel and kills by Gudnason and Whitney Rozdeba. Shearer had a pair of kills en route to building an 8-4 lead.
Bottineau made it as close as 9-7, but Vosberg ended a long rally with a kill and Thiel came up with an ace. Gudnason and Vosberg both stayed aggressive and pesky for LRSC.
The Royals won the final four points to win by the same score they did in the first set.
Set 3: Lake Region State College 25, Dakota College at Bottineau 22 (3-0 Royals)
The Royals kept playing as they had all night, building a 10-5 lead with a multifaceted attack. They won net battles and found crafty angles to go up as high as 16-7.
But they got sloppy. They lost five points in a row, and committed illegal contact multiple times. After narrowly holding onto a 20-17 lead, they dropped four straight points to fall into a stunning deficit.
LRSC held a timeout.
“Once things like that happen, we start to kind of clam up a little bit,” Waddell said. “And we start to play a little bit more tentatively. So when we took that timeout, we talked a lot about just going after it and being aggressive, because we play well when we’re aggressive.”
The teams traded points on long rallies after the break. But, down 22-21, the Royals won the final four points to lock down the set and finish on top. Gudnason had a kill at the net, while Vosberg had back-to-back aces that really swept the energy back to LRSC’s side.
Rozdeba won the final point.
“We’re a little bit more balanced now,” Waddell said. “I’m glad we got this one out of the way because I think, moving forward, we’re gonna be a little bit more comfortable going into playoffs.”
The Royals’ next opponent will be WSC after it beat Dawson 3-1 on Wednesday. The date and time are still to be determined.
“Tonight was a really good opportunity for us,” Waddell said. “But we’ve got a couple days of practice where we can start to work on that stuff, so I think we just need to be a little bit more offensively sound, and just a little bit more locked in.”