CANDO — Monday night’s regular season finale showed just how competitive Region 4 volleyball has been this season.
Langdon Area/Munich (32-5, 9-0) will enter tournament play as the No. 1 seed. North Star (20-11-1, 3-6) will be the No. 7 seed, and recently lost one of its best players, Rogue Stephens, to a knee injury. Yet, for the first set, the two teams were right there alongside each other.
“It’s really close between the first six, seven teams,” Cardinals head coach Rich Olson said. “We’ve dropped sets to quite a few of those teams. And we know how good this region tournament’s gonna be.”
LA/M faced an early deficit in the first set, then eventually outlasted North Star in a 25-22 thriller. Seventh-grader Genevieve Ahlberg, who was promoted to the Bearcats’ varsity team midseason, played a pesky game and collected seven kills on the evening.
“I’ve been coaching against Cando for about 25 years, and for some reason, this gym seems to be one of the toughest for us to come and play in,” Olson said.
But LA/M went on to take wins of 25-9 and 25-11, completing the match in straight sets. It controlled points and totaled 16 aces.
“Early on, we just weren’t making plays. Simple as that,” Olson said. “Some girls stepped up, and I thought our serve was tough all night. That kind of sparked us.”
The win capped a dominant season for the Cardinals through and through; they went undefeated in region play and most recently lost a match on Oct. 5. All five of their losses came in tournaments.
“We’ve got good chemistry on our team, and I think that’s been a big key for us all year long,” Olson said. “Everybody’s pulling for everybody else. Everybody’s bringing energy to everybody else on the floor. I think our girls have bought into the fact that you need to focus on your teammates when you’re playing the game. And it’s just been a fun season in that regard.”
Set 1: Langdon Area/Munich 25, North Star 22 (1-0 Cardinals)
The Bearcats had a different look to them than earlier this season. Avery Elsperger, G. Ahlberg and Claire Jorde all got starts, while Mattea Wanzek started on the bench and Annabelle Staus got more limited playing time.
But with that different alignment came some early success.
The Cardinals were uncharacteristically sloppy to start. They made four consecutive errors to allow the Bearcats to tie it at 7-7. Eight of North Star’s first total nine points came on errors.
LA/M went in front 10-7, but the Bearcats took the next five points. Ahlberg had a soft kill that tied it, and an error gave North Star the lead back.
Down 11-10, the Cardinals held a timeout.
“We gave ‘em a lot of those 11 points,” Olson said. “We had to just settle down, quit making unforced errors. We were dealing with one of the bigger blocks in the region [6-foot-4 Anna Bessonova]; obviously, they’re tall. And I think we were trying too hard to avoid the block. A lot of times, you just have to be aggressive.”
Kills by Meredith Romfo and Payton Hall tied the set at 12 apiece.
Ahlberg helped North Star keep it tied at 13, while her senior sister Jorie found an open part of the court to give the Bearcats a 14-13 lead. Bessonova added a pair of kills to help North Star build a three-point gap.
After a kill by Jorde made it 18-15 North Star, LA/M finally started to take over. Hilary Haaven rewarded a strong shot by Romfo by finishing a point off with a kill, and Haaven had another shot that took a fortunate bounce off the net. After back-to-back aces by Kemi Morstad, the Cardinals led 19-18.
“In the first set, it was huge,” Olson said of the team’s serving prowess. “Our serve was the one thing that kind of kept us in that first set. We just had way too many hitting errors, and our passing wasn’t very good. Once our passing got settled down and we started getting in system, then, obviously, we made fewer errors. So aces are always kind of a bonus. Our goal is, more or less, just to serve tough.”
The teams traded points to get to 20-20. A Romfo kill and a Raeleigh Ratzlaff ace made it 22-20 Cardinals, but North Star had one more answer. G. Ahlberg dove to save a ball, then got up off the floor and finished the point with a kill. She cheered and pumped her fists as the set was knotted up once again at 22-22.
But LA/M, the stronger team throughout this season, and one that’s less hampered by injuries, won the next three points. It brought a deflating end to an otherwise intense and competitive set.
Set 2: Langdon Area/Munich 25, North Star 9 (2-0 Cardinals)
The Cardinals played more like they have all year in the second set. An early 5-0 run gave them a 6-2 lead, and they never looked back.
LA/M played calmer and more aggressively, overwhelming the Bearcats and catching them flat-footed. With Haaven, Romfo, Hall and Aubrey Badding all working in sync, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to extend their advantage to 16-6.
In fact, they won 14 out of 15 at one point to really put the set away and puncture the home crowd’s energy. Ratzlaff had two aces amidst another 7-0 run.
A kill by Badding helped LA/M end the set with just a single-digit point total allowed.
Set 3: Langdon Area/Munich 25, North Star 11 (3-0 Cardinals)
And it was much of the same for the remainder of the match. The Cardinals won the first four points, and then a 5-0 run gave them an 11-4 lead.
Kills by Bessonova and G. Ahlberg helped North Star get into double digits, but LA/M’s attack was too strong. The Cardinals capped the 2024 regular season in fitting fashion, with a 3-0 match victory.
Now it’s time for the games that really matter. The Region 4 play-in matches commence Thursday at the higher seeds, while the quarterfinals begin next Monday at Devils Lake High School.
“Don’t look ahead. Just focus on the opponent that you have next,” Olson said. “We’ll figure that out [Tuesday] at the region meeting and prepare… Go out there and play like you’ve been playing all year. Don’t try doing anything different. You’ve been successful all year.”
