Mike Kraft/MDN Minot High’s Eve Knutson attempts to hit around the block of Century’s Sylvia Taylor (2) and Alexis Heinle (4) during a match at Magic City Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Rare is the occasion that the Minot High volleyball team is on the wrong side of a sweep, yet walks away from the match feeling more encouraged than discouraged with its play on the court.

While the Majettes would have preferred to be on the other side of its 25-22, 25-20, 25-16 loss to No. 1 Bismarck Century at Magic City Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 30, they also knew that they were just a few points away from a potentially different outcome against the top team in the state.

“Overall, we had things we were working on from previous matches, and what we wanted to work on we got accomplished,” Minot High coach Jesse Goertzen said. “We saw some better results in those areas. Now, obviously, this isn’t the result we were wanting or working for and there is a lot of improvement we have to do yet, but it was a good test to see where we’re at the midway point here and I’m excited to continue to build on this.”

But the Patriots (15-0 overall, 9-0 West Region) entered the match undefeated for a reason and were able to get the points down the stretch when they mattered the most to record their seventh sweep of West Region opponents in nine matches. Century has dropped just two of 29 sets to conference opponents as the WDA regular season reaches its midway point. It was the first time this season the Majettes have suffered a sweep at the hands of a conference opponent.

The Majettes (9-6, 7-2) trailed by as many as seven points in the opening set at 13-6 and 18-11, but staged a late rally and threatened to steal the opening stanza. Minot went on a 10-3 run to square the set at 21 and again at 22, getting a pair of kills from both Kynsli Gillmore and Everette Deschamp. But Century won the final three points with kills from Abby Fosland, Parker Lutman and Sylvia Taylor to take the set.

“That kind of seems like what we’ve been doing all season long,” Century coach Jamie Zastoupil said. “We get off to a good start and then we get in a little bit of a lull, but then the girls have been finishing. Minot is a really good team and we had to definitely plan for them and I thought our girls executed well. We wanted to make sure defense was first for us because they have so many great hitters and they mix up their shots with their swings and their tips, so we definitely wanted to do that and the girls did that and that’s what got us on some of those runs.”

The middle set was more nip and tuck, with neither team able to create any separation in the early stages. No lead from either team was greater than two points until the Patriots went on a mini run to go up 15-10. Century recorded three aces during that stretch, two from Kinley Pedersen and another by Fosland. Pedersen had a match-high five aces and the Patriots served up 10 total, but Zastoupil was concerned with that area the most, specifically because of the venue and not her team’s ability.

“We knew we were going to have to come in here and serve aggressively to get them out of system,” Zastoupil said. “Minot has a really nice facility, but I hate serving here. There’s nowhere else that you play in the WDA where it’s so deep between service line to end line, so it leaves so much space. We were really focusing on that end line and trying to keep our serves in. We really tried to serve aggressively but, more than anything, serve with few errors.”

The Majettes would again battle back and cut Century’s advantage down to a single point on three separate occasions before drawing even at 19 on a kill from Hadlea Faul. The Patriots regrouped and closed out the set winning six of the final seven points, again using a combination of multiple hitters to provide the offense.

“We try our best to do what we can, but other teams do the same to us,” Goertzen said. “We have multiple options as well, so it’s kind of a taste of our own medicine.”

Four Patriots finished with at least six kills, led by Taylor with 16.

“We just all trust each other and we’re confident in our hitters, and our setters do a good job of mixing up the ball and getting everyone the ball and splitting that block, which makes us really strong,” Taylor said.

Taylor and Lutman combined for 10 kills in the final set, which didn’t feature any late-set drama. The Patriots jumped out to an 8-2 lead and led by no less than four points the rest of the way.

Gillmore led Minot’s offense with 10 kills and Brooke Bedell finished with eight. Eve Knutson had four of the team’s five solo blocks and added two assist blocks. Deschamp and Camdyn Varty each had 18 digs to lead the Majettes.

The WDA season is now onto the second half of its schedule. The Patriots hold a two-game lead in the standings, with the Majettes sitting in second. The two teams meet again in Bismarck to close out the regular season on Nov. 4.

“It’s nice to play them,” Goertzen said. “You can talk about them all you want and watch them play other teams, but until you actually play them, you don’t know what it feels like on the court, you don’t know the atmosphere, so it was good to get this one out of the way and we’re excited to get another shot at them in the regular season.”

That matchup is still more than a month away. Next up for the Majettes is a home match with Mandan on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.