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One year older, one year smarter and one year tougher, Stanley already has one more win that it had one year ago.

Sophomore Shaunessy Dauwalder had 16 kills and three aces and senior Rachel Mehus finished with 10 kills as Stanley topped previously unbeaten Harvey 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 25-18) in the opening round of the state Class B volleyball tournament Thursday at the Minot State University Dome.

It is the start the Blue Jays were hoping for after losing all three matches at state last year.

"It's good for the girls because I think they came into this wanting to prove they can play better than what they showed last year," Stanley head coach Jessica Niemitalo said. "Even though we have a lot of different girls, they still wanted to prove something."

Stanley did it with a balanced offensive attack.

Five different Blue Jays had six or more kills, including sophomore Jasmin Pappa (8) and seniors Bailey Hornberger (6) and Brooke Meyer (6).

"All year when we've needed them to, everybody steps up at different times. It's not a one-person show," Niemitalo said.

Harvey came into the match with a 37-0 record and had many opportunities to extend the streak to 38.

The Hornets led 17-13 in game 1 and 21-19 in game 2. Stanley overcame the first-game deficit with a 7-0 run and used a 6-0 run to rally in game 2.

"We were outplayed, bottom line," Harvey head coach Brenda Lang said. "We played hard, but they played harder and that's the key right there. They weren't afraid to take some hard swings and we were backing off and playing some really loose stuff."

Junior Maggie Lorenz finished with 14 kills, while senior Amy Buxa and junior Sheyenne Schneider both had eight kills for the Hornets, who built a 13-3 lead on the way to winning game 3.

Stanley, which got 33 assists from sophomore ReeAnn Mehus, used a 6-0 run leading 16-15 to pull away in the fourth and final game. Dauwalder capped the run with a spike for a 22-15 lead.

"We knew that we had experience now and that it would be 10 times easier. We don't have the deer in the headlights look," Dauwalder said. "We came out knowing what to expect and worked from there."

Stanley plays Hazen in today's second semifinal match, while Harvey plays Park River-Fordville-Lankin in a consolation match.

Stanley 3, Harvey 1

Stanley25251625

Harvey21212518

Stanley - Kills: Shaunessy Dauwalder 16, Rachel Mehus 10, Jasmin Pappa 8, Brooke Meyer 6, Bailey Hornberger 6; Assists: ReeAnn Mehus 33, Meyer 2, Hornberger 2, Karlie Hoherz 1, Pappa 1; Aces: Pappa 5, Dauwalder 3, Rachel Mehus 2, ReeAnn Mehus 1, Chai Pappa 1; Blocks: Meyer 4, Dauwalder 2, Hornberger 1; Digs: ReeAnn Mehus 14, Hoherz 13, Hornberger 12, Chai Pappa 11, Rachel Mehus 10, Jasmin Pappa 6, Dauwalder 3.

Harvey Kills: Maggie Lorenz 14, Sheyenne Schneider 8, Amy Buxa 8, Rachel Nyhus 4, Elizabeth Schmeets 3; Assists: Jaclyn Bachmeier 29, Schneider 4, Becca Kourajian 1, Kady Appelt 1, Nyhus 1, Schmeets 1; Aces: Nyhus 2, Schneider 1; Blocks: Nyhus 1, Schmeets 1; Digs: Nyhus 22, Caitlyn Arnold 16, Schneider 13, Appelt 9, Bachmeier 5, Buxa 5, Schmeets 2, Lorenz 1, Kourajian 1.