Photo via lrsc_volleyball on Instagram
Volleyball season is officially underway.
Lake Region State College got its season going in the Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford, Ill., this past Friday and Saturday. The Royals went 3-1 to start the 2025 campaign.
The Opening Weekend Tournament hosts a large number of teams from all around the country.
On Friday, LRSC swept both Kishwaukee College and Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Against Kishwaukee, returning sophomore Lexie Shearer led the Royals with seven kills. LRSC won the first two sets 25-12 and 25-11, then narrowly took the final set 25-20.
Torri Fee, a Royals freshman and Devils Lake alum, led the team in digs with six.
To finish the day against FSCJ, LRSC won 25-11, 25-15 and 25-22. Madison Samuelson led the team with nine kills.
Kaitlyn Erickstad and Anne Stroklund each had eight kills in the match. Sydney Schwabe, who’s in her second year with the Royals’ basketball team but first with the volleyball team, led the squad with 10 digs. Fee, another dual-sport athlete in basketball, had seven digs.
LRSC’s lone loss of the weekend came in its first match on Saturday. It took a 3-2 defeat to North Iowa Area Community College.
The Royals went up 1-0 with a 25-17 set win, then lost 25-14 to even it up. LRSC was in the driver’s seat after a 25-21 win in the third set, but IACC tied it up again with a 25-21 win of its own. The Royals ultimately lost the fifth set, 15-8, to drop the match.
It was despite the best efforts of Samuelson, who led the team with 16 kills. Shearer added 10 kills. Schwabe, Samuelson and Fee posted dig totals of 24, 20 and 16, respectively.
LRSC bounced back in its final match of the weekend. The Royals swept McHenry County College, winning the first two sets 25-13 and 25-20 and then slamming the door with a 25-6 win in the third set.
Samuelson and Shearer each had nine kills. Leah Jacobson led with 15 digs, while Fee had 12.
Samuelson was the kill leader on the weekend with 39. Shearer amassed 31, while Stroklund had 24 and Erickstad posted 18.
Schwabe and Fee, the pair of dual-sport newcomers, had the two most digs on the weekend. Schwabe collected 42 and Fee had 41. Samuelson was third with 33, while Jacobson was fourth with 31.
Jacobson also had the most aces for LRSC with seven. Samuelson had five, while Fee and Schwabe each had four.
The Royals are next in action Tuesday on the road against Mayville State JV. Their first home match is Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. against Trinity Bible. Then they head on another long road trip, to the Siouxland Invitational in Sioux City, Iowa, on Friday and Saturday heading into Labor Day weekend.
