WATERTOWN For the first time since 2019, Sioux Valley volleyball is heading to the SoDak 16. The Cossacks took down Great Plains Lutheran in four sets in the Region 2A semifinals on Thursday night and are now one of the final 16 teams in Class A.
It feels great, said Sioux Valley head coach Jill Vincent. Its been since 2019 that we were in the SoDak 16 games. Its been a long time and it will be fun going back.
Each set was decided by five points or less on Thursday night. The Panthers took the first set but the Cossacks rallied with three-straight victories to win the match. Vincent said her team did a good job of sticking with it after dropping the first set.
We knew that it was going to be tight all night. Weve really been working on getting over our mistakes and believing in ourselves, and I think we did that to our fullest potential tonight, Vincent said.
The first set went back-and-forth the entire way. The Cossacks led 23-22 but the Panthers then scored three straight to win the set and take a 1-0 lead.
The beginning of the second set was similar to the first as Sioux Valley led 13-12. The Cossacks then went on a 6-2 run to go up 19-14. Sioux Valley pushed the lead to 23-17 and eventually won the set 25-20 to even things up.
The third set was a marathon. GPL jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but the Cossacks fought back and tied things up at 12-12. They then scored five of the next six points to go up 17-13. It was then the Panthers turn to fight back as they came back to tie it at 19-19.
The two teams then traded points before GPL had a set point at 24-23. The Cossacks then had two chances with a set point and the Panthers had one, but each time the opposing team tied it up. That was until it was 27-27 and Emma Gorvin pushed the ball between two GPL defenders to give the Cossacks the lead and then Adison Renkly pushed the ball just inside the right line to give Sioux Valley the third set and go up 2-1.
I think we didnt back down at any time, Vincent said. They would tie it up and then score a point and then we would tie it up. That was really tough. When you have to win by two, you just dont know when thats going to end and we played with a sense of urgency. We had people digging the ball like weve never done before. It was just outstanding play by the team and we just had each others back.
The fourth set was close as well as it was 12-12 through the first 24 points. Sioux Valley then seized control with a 7-2 run to go up 19-14. However, GPL would didnt give up again and cut the lead to 19-18, forcing a Sioux Valley timeout. The Cossacks then settled down and scored six of the next nine points and won the match.
We knew that from playing them before, it was going to be a tight match and if we played them point for point and then went on a couple of runs and put a string of three [points] together, if we could get that lead we could go point for point with them and win, Vincent said.
Sioux Valley was led by Kaedyn Sapp and Renkly. Sapp had 13 kills and 17 digs and Renkly had 18 kills and 11 digs. Machaela Gerasch had 22 assists and 14 digs. Sunny Hesby had 19 assists and 17 digs. Caitlin Russell had 30 digs and Gorvin had 10 kills. Tayla Vincent had 19 digs. Keyra Kruse had seven kills and Lacey Langland had six kills.
The Cossacks had 118 digs as a team. Vincent said her team did a good job of position ing themselves all night.
We were closing our block in the front row and then our back row was able to play defense around that. We were able to put our back row in positions where they were able to actually get those digs. It felt like they were hitting it right at us and that looked really nice, Vincent said.
GPL was led by Abby Kjenstad, who had 22 kills and 31 digs. Kaylee Carlson had 10 kills and five digs. Jolie Lien had 27 digs and Madeline Prahl had 23 assists and 15 digs. Kaitlyn Rawerts had 15 digs.
Sioux Valley will be the No. 11 seed in the SoDak 16 and will take on No. 6 seeded Hill City on Tuesday. A time and location for the match will be announced on Friday.
The Cossacks now have a record of 23-6. Vincent said getting to the SoDak 16 is special for them and they hope that the season can end with a trip to the state tournament.
This match was kind of the top of the hill for us and now we have to keep climbing. But to have a year where you have over 20 wins and you crack back into that great season [is special]. These girls have been working for it since they were in fifth and sixth grade and looking up to the high school teams. Now, its their turn and they made it work together. The last couple weeks weve really come together as a team and [I think] our team chemistry can take us pretty far, Vincent said.
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