LEAD, S.D. – The Lead-Deadwood Golddiggers came to play Thursday night, Oct. 15 and beat the Sturgis Scoopers 25-23 in set one. The Scoopers regrouped and won the next three sets, 25-10, 25-10 and 25-9 to take the match, three sets to one.
Sturgis head coach Debbie Cano knows her team has the tendency to start slow, but she had confidence that they would bounce back.
“I don’t know why they do that,” Cano said about her team’s slow start. “It happened in set one against Rapid City Central on Tuesday and they came back to win the next three. I guess it just takes them time to warm up,” she said with a smile.
The Golddiggers scored the first point of the match in set one and battled with the Scoopers throughout the set, taking a three point lead midway through the set at 16-13. Sturgis middle hitter Elizabeth Ortiz tied up the set at 19 apiece with an ace and Lead-Deadwood head coach Kim Hansen called a time out. Both teams traded points back and forth until the Scoopers took a 21-20 lead and looked like they would take control of the set. The Golddigger front line of Allison Mollman and Rachel Janssen stepped up and delivered some timely kills to steal the momentum from Sturgis, and setter Kailee Bertrand ended set one with a soft kill, giving Lead-Deadwood a 25-23 win.
Sturgis came out firing on all cylinders sets two, three and four after their slow start behind the accurate serving of Makayla Keffeler and Elizabeth Ortiz, who gave the Scoopers some much needed energy. Sturgis finished with 24 total aces and won all three final sets, 25-10, 25-10 and 25-9.
Ortiz finished with eight aces and six kills and Keffeler had seven aces, seven kills and four digs. Kaylee Whatley had 14 kills, three assists and one dig and setter Joellen Cano added 18 assists, three aces and one kill.
Kailee Bertrand had a great all-around match for the Golddiggers with five kills, 11 assists and one block and teammate Jayna Prince added six kills.
The Scoopers improve to 8-8 on the season and are back in action Tuesday, Oct. 20 at Pierre. First serve is scheduled for 7pm. Lead-Deadwood falls to 1-16 and is at home against Douglas on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
