Warner opens title defense with win; Central drops match to Harrisburg

A sluggish start gave way to what has been seen throughout the high school volleyball season — A Warner victory.

The No. 1 seed and two-time defending champions in the Class B state tournament had some rare errors in their first set against No. 8 Gayville-Volin, but corrected those errors and won in three straight sets 25-23, 25-9, and 25-9.

“I just told the girls I’m glad we settled in in the second set and that we needed to carry that over into our next two matches if we want to finish where we hope,” Warner head coach Kari Jung said.

The Monarchs finished with eight service aces, however three of their first four serves were errors, with two sailing long and one going into the net, giving the Raiders an early 7-5 lead.

“I think we had some early jitters and that led to some (service) errors we normally don’t commit,” Jung said. “We just didn’t have much rhythm early but once we got it going in the second (set) we played much better.”

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Middle hitting came up big for the top-seeded Monarchs. Kyleigh Schopp led the way with 13 kills while MaKenna Leidholt added six.

“Kyleigh really picked things up for us big-time in the second set hitting through blocks and placing tip-shots in open spaces,” Jung said. “MaKenna was our best hitter in the first (set). She kept us in it when we were trying to get into system.”

Jung credited Gayville-Volin with its defense early the first set.

“(Gayville-Volin)  definitely wanted it defensively early for sure,” Jung said. “They knew our size was an advantage and we couldn’t find the floor early. They got to a lot of balls.”

The Monarchs (38-0) will now face No. 4 Burke (32-4) in the semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. MST. Burke defeated No. 5 Wolsey-Wessington in five sets 19-25, 15-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-10.

No. 1 Warner (38-0) def. No. 8 Gayville-Volin (21-12) 25-23, 25-9, 25-9

SERVING: WAR 10 aces (Lauren Marcuson 3 aces, Kyra Marcuson 2 aces, Courtney Bjorgaard 2 aces).

HITTING: GV 21 kills (Maia Achen 12 kills, Aliza Westrum 4 kills); WAR 41 kills (Kyleigh Schopp 13 kills, L. Marcuson 9 kills, Makenna Leidholt 6 kills).

SETTING: GV 20 assists (Keely Larson 15 assists); WAR 39 assists (Ava Nilsson 31 assists).

DIGS: GV 52 digs (Taylor Hoxeng 19 digs, Ayla Dimmer 9 kills); WAR 46 (Bjorgaard 19 digs, L. Marcuson 16 digs).

BLOCKS: GV 1 solo (Achen 1 solo); WAR 8 (Schopp 2 solo, 3 assists).

Faulkton Area drops opening match to Chester

Faulkton Area, seeded No. 7 in Class B lost to second-seeded Chester in straight sets 25-15, 25-10, and 25-14.

Chester dominated the attack game, out-hitting Faulkton 44 kills to 18. Emmerson Eppard and Lily ValHal both had 11 kills for the Flyers. Chester would finish with four service aces while not surrendering any aces to the Trojans.

Addison Melius led Faulkton with a team-high eight kills.

Faulkton will next face the loser of No. 3 Colman-Egan and No. 6 Castlewood in the consolation semifinals Friday at 12:45 p.m. MST.

Aberdeen Central falls to top-seeded Harrisburg

Top-seeded Harrisburg opened the Class AA state tournament with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-18 straight-sets win over eighth-seeded Aberdeen Central.

Central traded point-for-point early in all three sets against the top seed but some mid-set errors led to deficits the Golden Eagles couldn’t overcome.

“I thought we started every set well against (Harrisburg), but we just had some lulls that allowed them to get some separation on us,” Central head coach Jackie Bindenagel said. “We recovered and put some things together (offensively) but it just wasn’t enough (Thursday).”

Serving deep to corners to try and get the Tigers out of system was an area that the Golden Eagles did have success. Central matched Harrisburg with eight aces. Kennedy Osborne led the way with three aces for Central.

“I thought we did a really good job with our serve,” Bindenagel said. “We came into the match wanting to hit certain zones in (Harrisburg) receive-game and I thought we were able to at times. They’re a very good passing team and wound up more in-system than we would have liked but overall I liked our serve-game.”

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Attack proved to be a major advantage for the top seeds as Harrisburg out-hit Central recording 37 kills to 20 for the Golden Eagles.

“Harrisburg is very athletic and they got us out of system more than we wanted,” Bindenagel said. “They rotate their defense and went right down the line and made it difficult for us. They just seemed to have somebody there at the point of our attack.”

Central will now face No. 4 Watertown in the consolation semifinals Friday at 11 a.m. MST.

The semifinals and consolation semifinals will be Friday with the championship, third, fifth and seventh-place games on Saturday. All matches will be televised and streamed by South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

No. 1 Harrisburg (29-0) def. No. 8 Aberdeen Central (14-12) 25-18, 25-16, 25-18.

SERVING: AC 8 aces (Kennedy Osborne 3 aces, Madison Miller 2 aces Lauryn Burckhard 2 aces); HAR 8 aces (Karalynn Leach 5 aces).

HITTING: AC 20 kills (Burckhard 6 kills, Kenadi Withers 5 kills, Ashley Wangler 5 kills); HAR 37 kills (Gabi Zachariasen 14 kills, Leach 9 kills).

SETTING: AC 18 assists (Ayrlie Waldo 17 assists); HAR 36 assists (Rosalyn Samuels 35 assists).

DIGS: AC 31 (Osborne 10 digs, Emma Dohrer 7 digs); HAR 65 digs (Maggie Meister 14 digs, Zachariasen 9 digs).

BLOCKS: AC 2 solo, 4 assists (Tayrn Nieman 2 solo, 1 assist); HAR 3 solo, 6 assists (Lauren Venenga 4 assists).

Class B Thursday results:

• No. 1 Warner def. No. 8 Gayville-Volin 25-23, 25-9, 25-9
• No. 4 Burke def. No. 5 Wolsey Wessington 19-25, 15-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-10
• No. 2 Chester Area def.  No. 7 Faulkton Area 25-15, 25-10, 25-14
• No. 6 Castlewood def. No. 3 Colman-Egan 25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23

Class A Thursday results:

• No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian def. No. 8 Lennox 25-21, 25-16, 25-15
• No. 5 Dell Rapids def. No. 4 Platte-Geddes 25-20, 20-25, 25-10, 25-14.
• No. 2 Rapid City Christian def. No. 7 Dakota Valley 25-27, 25-22, 13-25, 25-14, 15-11
• No. 3 Miller def. No. 6 Wagner 25-23, 25-18, 11-25, 22-25, 15-12

.Class AA Thursday results:

• No. 1 Harrisburg def. No. 8 Aberdeen Central 25-18, 25-16, 25-18
• No. 5 O’Gorman def. No. 4 Watertown 25-16, 25-12, 25-22
• No. 2 Sioux Falls Jefferson def. No. 7 Brandon Valley 25-21, 25-21, 25-11
• No. 3 Sioux Falls Washington def. No. 6 Sioux Falls Lincoln 25-13, 25-14, 20-25, 25-18

Class B Friday pairings:

• No. 5 Wolsey-Wessington (29-5) vs. No. 8 Gayville-Volin (21-12) 11 a.m. MST
• No. 3 Colman-Egan (28-6) vs. No. 7 Faulkton Area (24-10) 12:45 p.m. MST
• No. 1 Warner (39-0) vs. No. 4 Burke (32-4) 5 p.m. MST
• No. 2 Chester (31-2) vs. No. 6 Castlewood (22-8) 6:45 p.m. MST

Class A Friday pairings:

• No. 4 Platte-Geddes (31-7) vs. No. 8 Lennox (19-11) 11 a.m. MST
• No. 6 Wagner (26-7) vs. No. 7 Dakota Valley (19-11) 12:45 p.m. MST
• No. 1 Sioux Falls Christian (33-4) vs. No. 5 Dell Rapids (27-6) 5 p.m. MST
• No. 2 Rapid City Christian (34-5) vs. No. 3 Miller (29-6) 6:45 p.m. MST

Class AA Friday pairings:

• No. 4 Watertown (25-7) vs. No. 8 Aberdeen Central (14-12) 11 a.m. MST
• No. 6 Sioux Falls Lincoln (14-11) vs. No. 7 Brandon Valley (15-14) 12:45 p.m. MST
• No. 1 Harrisburg (29-0) vs. No. 5 O’Gorman (18-10) 5 p.m. MST
• No. 2 Sioux Falls Jefferson (23-2) vs. No. 3 Sioux Falls Washington (27-3) 6:45 p.m. MST