Left to right: Mia Elsperger, Emma Hofstad, Sara Kraft (Photo by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — The three-class volleyball era is off to a good start for Devils Lake.
The Firebirds swept their home opener on Thursday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. They won 25-18, 25-13 and 25-16 against the visiting Turtle Mountain Braves (0-1) to improve to 2-0.
“Nice to get it in three, finish in three,” said Bridget Hanlan, who’s in her first year back as the Firebirds’ head coach. “Still got a lot of work to do fine-tuning things. But we pulled it out, did enough to get the win.”
Devils Lake stormed out to a 13-1 lead in the first set. It looked like it might be a very quick night.
But the Firebirds stalled a little. Errors and penalties stacked up on each other, and Turtle Mountain trimmed the lead as tight as 24-18.
“We’re game-ready, but we’re not gelling correctly yet,” Hanlan said. “We’ve got to work on putting a full set together now that we’re in game mode, so that we’re playing our best ball by November.”
The Firebirds held a timeout after losing five straight points. When they came back, they won the set anticlimactically on a service error.
Sophomore Emma Hofstad had four kills in the set. She led Devils Lake with 10 on the night.
“She was just swinging away for us,” Hanlan said.
The second set was the easiest for the Firebirds at 25-13. Turtle Mountain had it as close as 8-6 early, but Devils Lake won 10 of the next 11 points. Mia Elsperger, April Miller and Sara Kraft all had kills. Kinley Johnson had an ace.
“Everybody’s doing their job,” Hanlan said. “We’re just gonna keep gelling and working together.”
Johnson finished the set with a kill. Elsperger had a strong set, too, finishing the night second on the team in kills with seven.
The teams were tied 4-4 in the third set, following two kills by Hofstad and an ace from Julia McIvor. Devils Lake ran away with it on a 5-0 run.
Hofstad smacked three kills in the set. Riley Remmick added a pair of aces to finish with three on the night. The Firebirds finished off the sweep with minimal stress despite a few late aces for the Braves.
McIvor held the fort defensively as the libero. She led the team with 17 digs. Elsperger added 11 digs in an all-around strong performance.
Devils Lake has now won all six sets it’s played in the three-class era. It’s a change that benefits everyone, with the Firebirds not having to travel as far or face the larger schools.
Up next, they travel to Central Cass High School for the Volley in the Valley tournament on Saturday at 8 a.m. They travel to Rugby the following Tuesday before opening region play at home against Thompson on Thursday at 7 p.m.
