Photo by Cameron Carlson
Devils Lake volleyball came about as close as it gets to advancing to the next round.
Instead, the Firebirds had to settle for a five-set loss to Grafton (19-13-1) in the first round of the Class A, Region 2 tournament at Mayville State University on Monday.
They let a 2-0 match lead get away. The tie-breaking fifth set took extra points to wrap up, with Grafton eventually winning it 20-18.
In the first year of the three-class system, Devils Lake’s season came to an end with an overall record of 18-15-1.
Emma Hofstad, who led the Firebirds with 11 kills, had back-to-back kills in the first set, followed by one from Mia Elsperger, to help give Devils Lake a commanding 19-12 lead. The Spoilers got within five, but Hofstad had a kill and an ace to finish off a 25-17 win.
The second set was even smoother sailing. An early 5-0 run put the Firebirds up 8-5, and they never looked back. Up 14-10, Devils Lake went on a 9-0 run. The Firebirds won 13 points in a 14-point span. Hofstad had two aces in that stretch. She, Elsperger and Kinley Johnson each tallied a kill. Grafton was discombobulated, making four-hit violations on consecutive points. Julia McIvor also had an ace.
Devils Lake won the second set 25-13. Everything was coming up Firebirds, with a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The teams battled in the third set, with Grafton barely edging Devils Lake and putting the hammer down at the end. Devils Lake led in the set as late as 11-10, and tied it as late as 15-15. But Grafton got some big-time hits from Jocelyn DeGeldere and Sheyanne Blackcloud. The Spoilers took the final three points of the set to sneak away with it, 25-19.
Grafton carried its energy into the fourth set. It won six out of seven points to go up 11-6. The Spoilers’ block improved throughout the contest, and Devils Lake couldn’t catch up. Hofstad had three kills in the fourth set, but not until late in the set.
The Firebirds won four in a row, with two aces from McIvor and a kill in the corner by Elsperger, to make it interesting at 23-20. But Grafton’s Mae Thompson finished a 25-20 win for Grafton with back-to-back kills.
So the match trudged on to a fifth set.
Devils Lake, after dropping the first point, recaptured some life with four straight points. Two Grafton errors were bookended by a Hofstad kill and a Riley Remmick ace. Grafton clawed back to tie it at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8.
After falling behind 10-8, the Firebirds had another 4-0 run to retake the lead. Sara Kraft had two kills in that span, while Remmick hit another ace.
After a kill by Hofstad and a Grafton error, Devils Lake led 14-11. It had three match points in a row.
Grafton fought back to win all three.
So the fifth set went into extra-points territory. An error by Grafton gave the Firebirds another match point, but they made a service error.
Devils Lake fought off three Grafton match points before the Spoilers finally put the set to rest. Grafton’s blocking proved strong again, getting the ball to deflect off Elsperger at the net on the final point. The 20-18 barnburner ended up going in favor of the Spoilers, who lived up to their name Monday night.
Elle Schumacher led Grafton with 14 kills. The Spoilers’ Emma LeClerc had 42 digs.
Hofstad’s 11 kills led Devils Lake, and Johnson was second with nine. Hofstad and Remmick each collected six aces. Remmick had the most assists with 21, while Brynlee Wolf added 15. The libero, McIvor, totaled 18 digs while Johnson added 12.
The Firebirds’ overall record won’t show how solidly they played in roughly the second half of the season. They went just 3-9 in region play, but three of those losses were five-setters. One of their wins was a 2-0 comeback against then-No. 1 Thompson. They competed with teams like Carrington and Grafton.
With a top four of Carrington, May-Port-C-G, Grafton and Thompson, Region 2 proved to be the deepest and most competitive region in Class A. Devils Lake narrowly missed out on sneaking through into the main fold.
Monday night was the final high school volleyball match for Devils Lake’s two seniors, Elsperger and McIvor. Otherwise, the Firebirds have a strong host of sophomores and juniors that they’ll return next year.
Grafton advanced to play May-Port-C-G in the region semifinals Tuessday.
