DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds’ region record might not reflect it, but they’ve been playing some solid volleyball lately.
As anticipated coming into the season, Devils Lake has been more competitive with the new class system. But the Firebirds were still plopped in the middle of what happens to be one of the toughest regions in the state.
Ten days ago, Devils Lake upset then-No. 1 Thompson. As the Tommies fell to No. 3 in the polls, a new No. 1 emerged — which happened to be Devils Lake’s Thursday opponent, the Carrington Cardinals.
Both Thompson and Carrington compete in Region 2 with the Firebirds. As does May-Port-C-G, ranked No. 4 in Class A.
At the Devils Lake Sports Center Thursday evening, the Firebirds (17-14-1, 2-9) couldn’t quite take down another No. 1. They were swept by first-place Carrington (29-4, 10-0), with set scores of 25-22, 25-17 and 25-21.
“This is the kind of volleyball you want to play,” Devils Lake head coach Bridget Hanlan said. “Competitive, back-and-forth volleyball, where you’re working for every point; they’re working for every point. And we just need to realize that everybody is competitive in this league, and we’re just gonna keep fighting as long as we can.”
Chassidy Rodacker was out with an injury, so Ashlin L’Heureux started in her place. Jossy Lamb also got some varsity time.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries: ankles, shoulders this year,” Hanlan said. “And a lot of different people have went in in different places, and they’ve all just stepped up and done a nice job.”
Devils Lake hung around for the first set and some of the second.
The Firebirds got off to a strong serving start, with three consecutive aces by Riley Remmick making it 4-0 in the first set. Remmick had four aces on the night.
“We have served a very high percentage; I think actually, tonight was probably our lowest percentage serving,” Hanlan said. “They are very strong servers, and we serve to our spots, and we are aggressive with our serving.”
Carrington clawed back in it. Josie Kollman, who led the Cardinals with 12 kills, smashed one to give Carrington its first lead of the night at 11-10.
Sara Kraft had a kill and a block as part of a 4-0 run to put Devils Lake back ahead. But the Cardinals rode their own 4-0 run and held on to scratch out the 25-22 win.
The Firebirds played a competitive set but had nothing to show for it.
“The first set, we were really sound with our hitting, our passing, our setting,” Hanlan said.
The teams were tied 6-6 early in the second set. But Carrington controlled it the rest of the way. Despite six kills in the set by Emma Hofstad, who led Devils Lake with 12 on the night, the Cardinals took it 25-17.
Devils Lake made four service errors in the second set.
“We missed too many serves,” Hanlan said. “Those last couple points, being within a couple points, missing five or six serves really put us down.”
The third set didn’t start much better. After an 8-0 run, Carrington led 10-4. Kollman had multiple aces against the Firebirds, while Maara Kutz had a pesky block against Kinley Johnson to send it past everybody in the back row.
But a few Carrington errors allowed Devils Lake to get back in it. Johnson smacked an ace to cap a 3-0 run for the Firebirds, tying the third set at 12 apiece.
“I like how all tonight, we did not get down on ourselves,” Hanlan said. “We played as a team. We used all of our hitters, and even when things weren’t going our way, we still worked together as a team.”
Devils Lake briefly led 15-14, but Kollman and Kutz helped Carrington regain the lead. The Firebirds had one more tie, 19-19, after back-to-back kills by Mia Elsperger. The senior hitter was second on the team with seven kills on the night.
Carrington won the next three points, then finished off a 25-21 win to complete the sweep.
With their region record at 2-9, the Firebirds sit in second-to-last place out of the seven teams in Region 2. What really stung them the most was three five-set losses in a four-match span — all coming in region play.
But Devils Lake still beat Thompson. The Firebirds also won a set over Carrington in their previous meeting. Even Thursday night, they kept two of the three sets pretty much neck-and-neck.
They’ve proven they can play with anybody in the region when they’re at the top of the game. The consistency just hasn’t been there all season.
“We can compete with everybody,” Hanlan said. “Our wins haven’t been where we wanted to in the region, and we’re gonna fall lower in the region tournament. But because we’re competitive and we can play with anyone, it really doesn’t matter. We’ve got to beat everybody to get to state. So we’re where we’re at, we’re gonna deal with it and we’re just gonna play our hardest.”
Devils Lake closes the regular season against a region opponent, Harvey/Wells County. Last time these teams met, the Firebirds dropped a five-setter. In the standings, H/WC is narrowly above Devils Lake with a 3-8 region record.
The Firebirds host the Hornets at 7 p.m. Monday.
“Harvey is very scrappy,” Hanlan said. “It’s gonna be long rallies, and they’re not gonna give us anything easy. So we just have to be ready to fight.”
The Region 2 tournament will be held Nov. 10, 11 and 13 at Mayville State University.
