The Minot High volleyball team led in every set of its match against Dickinson on Saturday night at Magic City Campus.

However, the Majettes lost each of those leads as they fell to the Midgets in three sets: 25-23, 25-18 and 25-20.

“Overall we played pretty well,” Minot coach Ellen Jebens said. “We just made a few more mistakes than they did, especially at the end of the sets. We didn’t close it out the way we needed to.”

The Majettes led 19-13 in the first set, which prompted Dickinson coach Jay Schobinger to call a timeout. Following the pep talk, his team went on a 12-4 run to close out a first-set win.

“That gave us so much confidence,” Dickinson sophomore Raegan Linster said. “It made us think that we can actually do this. If we get down, we can get back in this.”

And that’s precisely the message Schobinger has been imploring upon his team, not only in the huddle, but all season.

“We’ve kind of been stressing the last few of weeks that no matter what the score is, you just have to keep battling and keep battling, and we did it three sets in a row today,” he said. “The kids played hard from start to finish and that’s all you can ask for.”

Sophomore Lexi Jordheim led the Midgets with 12 digs and six kills. Junior Sarah Dobitz logged a game-high 18 digs and Linster recorded a game-high 23 assists.

Juniors Liz Lucy and Hailee Salander both registered six kills to pace the Majettes. Senior Bergen Rutten logged a team-high eight digs, while junior Riley Irmen had a team-best 15 assists.

Saturday was a special night for more than one reason.

First, it was senior night, as Makenzi Collins, Kaydra Weigel, Annka Arnold and Bergen Rutten were all given gifts and honored before the match. The match was also in honor of Lynda Bertsch, a local official who was recently diagnosed with cancer. All three teams in attendance – Turtle Mountain, Dickinson and Minot – donned yellow shirts in support of Bertsch’s battle.

“It was just really nice to see all the teams wearing the shirts, and a shout out to Dickinson and Turtle Mountain for participating,” Jebens said.

All the proceeds from shirt sales thoughout the year have gone directly to Bertsch, and Jebens believes the sales have produced more than $2,000.

Minot wraps up its regular season by hosting Williston at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The match will be held at Jim Hill Middle School, as the Magic City Campus gym will be used for parent teacher conferences.

John Denega covers Minot High athletics and general assignments. Follow him on Twitter @JohnDenega_MDN.