RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Sturgis Scoopers were on the brink of defeat, down two sets to none to the Rapid City Central Cobblers in their regular season finale in the unfriendly confines of Naasz Gymnasium. But the Scoopers dug deep and showed no quit, fighting back to win the final three sets to win the match, three sets to two.
Central won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-17 before the Scoopers mounted a furious comeback, winning the final three sets, 25-23, 25-21 and 15-9.
“The girls never gave up and I told them to not be out hustled on the court,” said Scooper head coach Debbie Cano. “They turned a switch on and they started playing together as one unit. It also helped that Central could not stop TyLee Oswald. It was so fun watching them play tonight.”
It seemed nothing could go wrong for the Cobblers through the first two sets. Setter Leila Roybal placed the ball perfectly for her outside hitters Amare Rinto and Telia Jiron, who led Central to wins in sets one and two.
Momentum changed in set three as the Scoopers got down by four points early but battled back to a 25-23 win on a set by Joellen Cano to TyLee Oswald, who got the kill. Cano served three aces in a row to close out set four as the Scoopers downed Central 25-21.
Then it seemed nothing could go right for the Cobblers as Sturgis kept their foot on the gas pedal with a convincing 15-9 win in set five to win the match.
Cano finished the night with 35 assists, seven aces, one block and three kills. Oswald dominated from her right side hitter position, delivering eight kills and 11 blocks for Sturgis (10-20).
Rapid City Central (7-25) was led by Roybal with 38 assists. Jiron and Rinto added 13 kills apiece for the Cobblers.
Sturgis currently sits at #16 in the South Dakota High School Activities Association volleyball seed points rankings. The top 16 teams make the SoDak 16 volleyball playoffs.
“Winning at Central High School is not a easy task,” said senior outside hitter Lexi Long. “They came at us hard those first two sets. Being down two sets to nothing can beat you down but when all 6 girls on the court are giving everything they have and your girls on the bench are giving you all their hype you know you can still get the win.”
You can watch the match on the Rapid City Central Cobblers YouTube page:
