The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals won their homecoming volleyball match against the De Smet Bulldogs in four sets on Thursday, October 14th.  The Cardinals won by set scores of 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, and 25-14.

The first set was close throughout the entire game.  Neither team had a lead of more than two points until the Cardinals took a 22-19 lead late.  The Bulldogs tied the score at 22-22 and then again at 23-23, but the Cardinals scored the final two points for the win. 

St Mary raced out to an early 6-2 lead to start the second set.  De Smet tied the game at 6-6 and then took an 11-8 lead.  The Bulldogs built three-point leads of 14-11 and 18-15, but both times the Cardinals tied the score.  St Mary went on a run to take a 21-19 lead and finished the set with a 25-21 win.

De Smet started the third set on a 7-1 run for an early lead.  After the Cardinals pulled within two points at 7-5, the Bulldogs were able to keep about a five-point lead throughout most of the set.  The lead grew to nine points at 22-13, and the Bulldogs also led 24-17.  The Cardinals rallied with four straight points, but De Smet finished the set with at 25-21 win.

St Mary built a big lead to start the fourth set and led 11-1.  The Cardinals cruised from there for the 25-14 set and match win.

Courtney Brown led the team with 19 kills and 23 digs in the match.  Maya Heinitz had 10 kills and 17 digs.  Brianna Lindeman finished with 18 set assists, 14 digs, five kills, two blocks, and two ace serves.  Ella Griffin had nine set assists, eight digs, and four kills.  Brianna Griffin had five kills, four blocks, and two digs.  Addy Gilbert also had five kills.  Madala Hanson added 16 set assists and seven digs.  Josie Baumberger had eight digs, and Whitney Warwick finished with five.  Jaycee Tebay had a team-high five ace serves.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals play in their second consecutive five-set match on Thursday, October 12th.  Not only did they play in their second straight five-set match, they also won for both of those matches.  St Mary defeated the Centerville Tornadoes on the road.

The Cardinals got the first win of the night by a score of 25-20.  The Tornadoes responded with a 25-21 win in the second set.  The teams traded wins again as St Mary won the third set 25-16.  Centerville forced a fifth set after another 25-21 win in the fourth.  The Cardinals won the match after a 15-9 win in the fifth and final set.

Courtney Brown tallied 19 kills, seven digs, and three blocks.  Maya Heinitz had eight kills, 14 digs, and two ace serves.  Ella Griffin added six kills, six digs, four set assists, a block, and a team-high 10 ace serves.  Addy Gilbert finished with three kills, seven digs, and six blocks.  Brianna Lindeman had 13 set assists, five digs, and four ace serves.  Madala Hanson added five set assists and four digs.  Josie Baumberger had 13 digs, and Whitney Warwick had 12 digs.

The Cardinals will host De Smet on Thursday, October 14th.

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.