Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley
On paper the match between the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals and Estelline/Hendricks Redhawks was going to be a close one. The two teams proved just that on Thursday, October 7th. The Cardinals won the match in five sets in which all the sets were decided by three points or less.
St Mary struck first in the opening set with an early 9-4 lead. After the Redhawks tied the set at 9-9, the Cardinals got the lead back and led 18-14 late. Estelline/Hendricks tied the set again at 18-18. The set was tied again 21-21, but the Redhawks finished on a 4-1 run for at 25-22 win to start the match.
Estelline/Hendricks led for most of the first half of the second set, but the Cardinals had the score tied 13-13. The two teams traded points, and the set was tied 17-17. St Mary scored the next three points for a 20-17 lead and kept the lead in a 25-22 win for the Cardinals.
Trailing 2-0 in the third set, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run for a 7-2 lead. The Redhawks responded by tying the set 7-7, and then continued the run to take a 16-10 lead. Estelline/Hendricks led 24-17, but St Mary scored six straight to pull within a point, 24-23. The Redhawks stopped the rally and won the third set 25-23.
Neither team was able to get more than a three-point lead throughout much of the fourth set. The Redhawks had one of those three-point leads late in the set at 19-16. They did push the lead to four points at 21-17, but the Cardinals rallied to tie the score 21-21. Estelline/Hendricks regained the lead 23-21, but St Mary finished set on a 4-0 run to win 25-23 and force a fifth set.
The Cardinals scored the first three points of the fifth set for a 3-0 lead. The Redhawks scored the next five, and Estelline/Hendricks led 5-3. The two teams battled back-and-forth, and the set was tied 10-10. The Cardinals looked to heading to a victory as they held a 14-11 lead. The Redhawks scored the next three to tie the score 14-14. St Mary got a side-out point, and then Maya Heinitz ended the match on a kill for a 16-14 win.
Courtney Brown led the team with 21 kills. Heinitz had eight kills. Ella Griffin had seven, and Addy Gilbert and Brianna Griffin both had four kills each. Brown also led the team with 25 digs and four ace serves. E. Griffin had three ace serves, and Brianna Lindeman and Jacey Tebay both had two ace serves. Lindeman finished with 20 set assists. Madala Hanson had 11 assists, and E. Griffin finished with nine. E. Griffin had a team-high five blocks, and Gilbert finished with four. Heinitz also had 18 digs. Josie Baumberger and Whitney Warwick both had 14 digs apiece.