Mike Kraft/MDN Minot High defeated crosstown rival Minot North in four sets to remain undefeated in West Region play on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Minot North High School.

The Minot High volleyball team hadn’t forgotten what happened to it the last time they walked into the gym at Minot North last season for the first time.

And after the opening set, it appeared as if the Majettes were about to relive the painful memory of losing to their crosstown rival for a second consecutive season. But they dug out of an early hole and claimed the final three sets to grab early season bragging rights in a 21-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19 victory over the Sentinels on Thursday, Sept. 11.

“We knew it would be a battle,” Minot High coach Jesse Goertzen said. “It’s a new year so we have to prepare for a new team and we have a new team as well. We were just ready to battle and it was a good WDA match.”

The Majettes (6-4 overall, 4-0 West Region) appeared in control from the start, jumping out to a 9-3 lead in the opening set only to see the Sentinels rally off the strength of their service game, specifically from Aven Kelly. The senior middle hitter served up three consecutive aces and four during her rotation, as well as a kill on offense to spark a 6-0 run to grab a 10-9 lead.

“It was a super gritty comeback,” Minot North coach Kari Francis said. “We played hard, but at the same time they pushed back and we need to answer back and play a little more consistently.”

The Sentinels (5-6, 1-4) went ahead by as many as four points at 18-14 and 21-17 before Minot High evened the set at 21 a piece. But another kill by Kelly and a pair of shots out of bound gave the Sentinels the opening set.

“We just made too many mistakes in that first set,” Goertzen said. “We just learned how to come together and play together and we served tough on them. It was just about minimizing our errors.”

The Majettes again found themselves up by the same early 9-3 advantage in the second set with the aid of a trio of kills from Everette Deschamp. This time, Minot High didn’t allow Minot North back into the set, pouring it on and building a lead as large as 20-7. Eve Knutson had three blocks in the set as well as a kill and Kynsli Gillmore provided four kills to square the match after two sets.

Sets three and four were closely contested. The tiebreaking set went to the Majettes, but at no point were either team ahead by more than three points, and that was early at 12-9 after a kill by Deschamp. Minot North immediately squared the set at 12 following back-to-back kills from McKinnley Kragh and another by Kelly. From there, the set featured six ties and five lead changes.

“We played consistently and figured out what we needed to do offensively and defensively,” Goertzen said. “They’re a good serving team, so they put us in some trouble and we battled back and our offense helped us out a lot.”

Addie Harper put the Sentinels on top, 22-21, which proved to be their final lead of the set as the Majettes took the next two points and four of the final five. A kill from Minot High’s Mackenzie Dufner gave her team set point and a kill attempt from Kelly just missed the inbounds line to close out the set in favor of the Majettes.

The Majettes built a 7-5 lead in the fourth when Francis received a yellow card from the official. It helped spark a Minot North run, as her team tallied five of the next six points to take a 12-11 lead. The Sentinels recorded four kills, an ace and a block during that stretch.

However, Minot High had one final run in it and it proved to be the dagger. The Majettes used two kills and an ace from Deschamp and kills from Dufner and Gillmore to take an 18-14 lead and they wouldn’t look back from there. The Sentinels would get as close as two points a couple times down the stretch, but Minot High would not relinquish the lead and remained one of four unbeaten teams with Bismarck Century, Bismarck High and Jamestown.

“Overall, we played hard, both teams played hard,” Minot North coach Francis said. “There’s good volleyball in Minot and we still have a lot of kids that are learning some positions and figuring some things out, but there is a lot to be excited about. Hats off to Minot. They definitely played well and played more consistent tonight.”

Gillmore finished with a match-high 17 kills and Brooke Bedall and Deschamp joined her in double figures with 15 and 12, respectively. Dufner had 46 assists and 13 digs. Bedall had three of Minot High’s nine aces. Eve Knutson and Bedell led the Magicians with 2.5 blocks. Camdyn Vardy led the defensive effort with 25 digs. Deschamp and Gillmore had 21 and 20, respectively.

Kragh paced the Sentinels with 12 kills and Kelly finished with eight. Kelly also had four of the team’s nine aces. Brynn Francis dished out 29 assists and Kate Weiishaar had a team-high 22 digs.

Both teams are back at home on Tuesday, Sept. 16. The Majettes take on Bismarck High and the Sentinels play Jamestown.