The Patriots pulled off one of the biggest wins in program history, by defeating the Northwestern Wildcats to advance to the SoDak 16 on Tuesday night.
In the first set, the Patriots found themselves down early and errors played a big role in the score. The Patriots used their second time-out and found themselves down 10-19. The Patriots started chipping away behind the aggressive serving of Gracyn Bixler and Isabel Gilbert and the powerful hits of Katelyn Schroeder. The Patriots tied the set up and ended up pulling the come from behind win by a score of 27-25.
In the second set, the Patriots got off to a lot better start, as the ladies played back and forth with the Wildcats, and had several leads throughout. The Wildcats were not going to go down without a fight, and came back to nip the Patriots 25-23, to even the match.
The Patriots got off to another good start in the third set as they led for much of the set. There were several good serving runs and hits that helped fuel the set three victory. The Patriots won set three by a score of 25-22.
In set four, the Patriots used a variety of hits and aggressive serving to keep the pressure on Northwestern. The Patriots built a lead and never looked back, winning the set 25-18, and taking the match 3-1.
This win was a team effort as there was a lot of big performances from several different players. The Patriots tallied 66 kills in the match, with Katelyn Schroeder leading the way with 31 kills. Ella Johnson had a nice night at the net also with 16 kills. Rebecca Huizenga chipped in 7 kills. Lila Johnson and Isabel Gilbert each added 6 kills to round out the scoring.
Lila Johnson was busy at the net as she tallied 46 assists on the net. Gracyn Bixler added in 9.
The Patriots used some aggressive serving to get the Wildcats out of system. Bixler was perfect at the line, recording 3 aces. Five other players each recorded an ace to help the victory.
Defensively, the team recorded 94 digs on the night, with Schroeder leading the way with 30. Lila Johnson and Cambree Hoekman each tallied 16 digs. Ella Johnson recorded 14 digs and Bixler added 12.
Rebecca Huizenga recorded one block solo and two block assists.
The Patriots (24-7) advance to the SoDak 16 match on Tuesday night and face the Faulkton Trojans for a trip to Rapid City on the line. We would like to see another awesome crowd in attendance to cheer the ladies on! Location and time of the match will be announced later.