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Berthold volleyball survives mini scare, sweeps South Prairie

Alex Eisen/MDN Lewis & Clark/Berthold sophomore Cashley Brown (5) attacks the ball while South Prairie sophomore McKynna Stenberg (3) puts up a block Thursday evening in a District 12 volleyball game played at South Prairie.

On the verge of a straightforward sweep Thursday evening, the Lewis & Clark/Berthold volleyball team was nearly halted by a freshman.

Coming off the bench, South Prairie setter Kaycee Nordstrom served up three straight aces with the Royals facing match point.

All of a sudden, South Prairie had tied the third set at 24-24.

“That was definitely a highlight for us,” Royals head coach Kayla Palczewski said. “Our big focus has been trying to close out games. So, for her to come into that third set — I put her into serve — and she got aces was exciting. It just shows that everyone has a role on the team, no matter what.”

South Prairie’s last-ditch rally, however, wasn’t enough.

Berthold senior Toni Hamilton ended the third set at 26-24 with her match-high 15th kill of the evening. The Bombers (5-6, 1-0 District 12) swept the Royals (2-9, 0-1 District 12) to open up district play.

Berthold won by set scores of 25-15, 25-10, 26-24.

“We pulled it together and we worked well,” LCB head coach Katelyn Sandy said. “We had a tough loss on Monday, so it was nice coming out today and be able to get the ‘W’ by working together as a team. We improved our game altogether.”

The Bombers lost a five-set marathon match with Nedrose on Monday. Not having a repeat performance was the motivation on Thursday in South Prairie.

“We played better than our last game,” Hamilton said. “Our last game was rough. Today, we came together as a team and really communicated. But, we could be better.”

After the Royals managed to hang around at the start of the match, Berthold methodically started to take over. Timeouts couldn’t slow the Bombers down as they cruised to double-digit wins in the first two sets.

Alongside Hamilton’s 15 kills and four blocks, sophomore Cashley Brown provided six kills and four aces. Senior setter Hannah Ibach tossed up 17 assists, while sophomore Natalie Helfrich added nine assists.

Ibach and Brown also had 12 digs apiece.

“We didn’t want to come out and lose again,” Hamilton said. “Because that was just a rough game (against Nedrose) and we were all sad after. We want to be happy and proud.”

South Prairie sophomore McKynna Stenberg tried to keep the Royals in the contest with eight kills and two blocks. Junior setter Mariah Braasch had 12 assists and two aces.

Defensively, senior libero Savanna Jones picked up 12 digs and fellow senior Katie Berg added 10 digs.

Nordstrom, with her aces spree at the end of the match, caught the Bombers completely off guard.

“We can’t have those,” Sandy said. “In big games, once we get to tournament time and things like that, we can’t have those. Those are the ones where you can get hurt. We need to step up our game at that point. We need to finish.”

Berthold travels to Ray for its next match at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, while South Prairie is on the road at Des Lacs-Burlington on Tuesday, Sept. 24, with another 7 p.m. start time.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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