Bowman County Bulldogs secure impressive victories in volleyball showdowns
Oct. 6—DICKINSON — The Bowman County Bulldogs put in some serious hours challenging themselves in their early-season action against tough competition and that work is starting to pay off for the team after a pair of winning matches on Tuesday, Oct. 3 and Thursday, Oct. 5 resulted in 3-0 and 3-2 wins, respectively, and helped extend the team's record to 5-2 in Class B, Region 7 action, which places them at third in the conference.
On Thursday, versus Mott-Regent (2-4, 4-8-1 overall), The Wildfire came out swinging and rose to a 25-23 win to open the match, but BCHS responded with a 25-20 victory in set #2 that was followed by another Mott-Regent resurgence and another 25-23 win to place the contest at 2-1 with the Bulldogs needing to play catch-up. And catch-up they did, with a 25-18 win in set #4 and a final-set 15-9 win for the overall series.
"Mott has really improved and they didn't give you any easy points; they made you work," Bowman County head coach Phil Weldele said. "We actually switched offenses last week (from a 6-2 to a 5-1), before we went to the Lisbon Tournament and we're starting to see that come together and getting our best rotations on the floor."
He added, "It's just having everybody in what feels like their natural position."
There were excellent performances turned in by both teams, up-and-down the scoresheet, with an outstanding 41 assists for Bulldogs' setter Alyssa Martian, who also turned in 11 digs on defense. Three BCHS standouts turned in double-digit totals in kills on the night — with a stunning 15 from Claire Stafford, Kennedy Senn with 12 and Sophia Headley's 10 — while Reagan Coyle notched 5 and Emberly VanDeale had 4 for a grand-total of 46 by the Bulldogs. Martian and Coyle dumped in 3 aces apiece to pace the team from the service line and Senn added another 2.
On the defensive side of the net for Bowman County, Lucy Heyen turned in an excellent effort with a team-high 21 digs and VanDeale was not to be outdone with 17 of her own, while Coyle turned in 16 and the team registered an amazing 77 total for the series. The team also shined in the blocking game with an unbelievable 8 from Stafford and 5 by Senn, while Headley added another 2 to the total.
But Mott-Regent also had an abundance of standout performances, with Emily Manolovits setting up 27 shots for her team, which poured in a combined 4 aces from the service-line. In the kills department, Jada Ottmar had a team-high 12 and Samantha Greff clockedin at 10 on the night.
On the defensive front for the Wildfire, Kierra Wiesinger dug-out a team-high 21 and Ruby Nasset combined with 34 digs — 17 each — with Jazlyn Ottmar, while Kendra Auch had 14 and Jada Ottmar added 13 while also blocking a pair of shots.
On Tuesday at Glen Ullin-Hebron, the 3-0 Bulldog win featured scores of 25-14, 25-22 and 25-23 to go along another excellent night for the team with Martian's 29 assists and 13 digs on defense, while Headley led the way with 12 kills and collected a pair of aces, 4 blocks and 13 digs to her stat-sheet. VanDeale dug-out 13 shots and added 2 aces to her hand, while Heyen also had 2 aces and 15 digs. Stafford also helped pace the team with 9 kills and a pair of blocks on defense, Senn had 7 kills and 2 blocks in the match and Coyle led the way with 5 aces, while digging another 10 shots.
Up next for the Bulldogs will be a trip to the Beach (high school) on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and a subsequent home contest on Thursday, Oct. 12 against the Hazen Bison. For Mott-Regent, they will be at Heart River on Oct. 12 and host Hettinger-Scranton on Oct. 17 as they begin to close down the 2023 schedule.
For more information about volleyball in North Dakota, please keep reading your Dickinson Press and/or visit
https://ndhsaanow.com/tournaments/volleyball
.
