Kemi Morstad (Photo by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — Park River/Fordville-Lankin was one of the few teams that had given Langdon Area/Munich trouble this season.
The Aggies beat the Cardinals 2-1 in a tournament. They also took a set in the teams’ regional matchup at the end of September.
“When you play them earlier in the season during an invitational tournament, you don’t even know you’re gonna play them,” LA/M head coach Rich Olson said. “And all of a sudden the brackets go your way, and you play. And they got us, and we learned from that experience.”
There was none of that in the Region 2 championship on Thursday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. The Cardinals (35-5-1) got out to a stunning 14-1 lead and cruised through yet another three-set victory. Set scores were 25-9, 25-15 and 25-13.
LA/M won its 27th consecutive set to return to the state tournament — where the squad won it all last year.
“I’m just proud of them,” Olson said. “They’ve lived through some adversity. We’ve got two girls injured on the bench, and I know it’s tough on them to sit there and not be out on the floor. But just, confidence. I think they’re a confident bunch right now.”
One of the main targets going in was the Aggies’ (22-15) junior middle blocker, Lauren Bell. She had enormous performances in the first two rounds of the tournament, and was a well-deserved all-region selection.
In the first set, the Cardinals held her to zero kills.
“We were hoping to limit her opportunities,” Olson said. “Holding her to zero is not gonna happen too often. You know she’s gonna come alive and she’s gonna spark a run for them, and I think we just did a good job limiting her.”
LA/M, fueled by an early 11-0 run, won the first set 25-9. While Hilary Haaven was the leading hitter, Taya Feist, Mya Swanson, Emma Hall and Kemi Morstad all chipped in as well.
Swanson totaled seven kills and five aces on the night.
“We got our hitters going right away,” Olson said. “We were solid in serve-receive. We knew their serve was pretty tough, and they could get us out of system pretty easily. But we came in here with the mindset that we can pass their tough serves, and if we get the ball to our hitters, they can do some damage. And everybody stepped up. We had contributions from everybody tonight. There’s no question, it was a total team effort.”
PR-F/L played more evenly in the early going of the second set, with the Cardinals’ lead at a slim 9-8. But LA/M took off with a 5-0 run. Hall had a kill and a block in that stretch, while Swanson added a kill.
Bell finally got going a little bit, with a kill and a block early in the second set. But she still only had three kills in the set.
LA/M held her to five in the match.
“She’s great. We can’t fully stop her,” Haaven said. “She’s gonna get some. We knew that. We just wanted to make sure she stayed in the back row as long as possible, because then that’s when we really took off.”
The Cardinals trailed 7-5 in the third set. After coming to an 8-8 standstill, LA/M exploded by winning 11 consecutive points. Liv Prouty had two aces as part of the run.
A Haaven kill, plus back-to-back Swanson aces, put the match on ice. The final point came down to a net battle that Morstad won, ending a 25-13 victory.
The Cardinals swarmed the court, celebrating another region title.
“It feels great,” Haaven said. “We worked hard all season for this. We really battled some things, and glad to come out and win this.”
Haaven led LA/M with 15 kills and 23 digs. The freshman helped the Cardinals win last year’s state championship as an eighth-grader.
“It’s so fun,” Haaven said. “We all love each other.”
Haaven, Morstad and Swanson made the All-Region 2 team. PR/F-L’s Nicole Wollangk was named the Region 2 Coach of the Year. The Aggies move to a state qualifier on Saturday in Jamestown.
Langdon has now earned its 24th state tournament appearance in the 37-year history of Class B volleyball in North Dakota. That’s by far the most of any team.
The Cardinals are currently tied with Thompson for the most Class B state titles with five, although Thompson is in Class A now.
It all gets going Thursday at the Bismarck Event Center.
“We just want to be playing our best at the end of the season,” Olson said. “And these girls believe in each other. We believe we can play with any team in the state, and that we can be competitive and we have a shot.”
