The St Mary’s Cardinals were facing match point in the third set against the De Smet Bulldogs at home on Thursday, October 16th. The Cardinals were able to avoid a straight-set loss by winning the third set and then went on to win the next two sets to take the match win by scores of 19-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-15, and 15-9.
De Smet turned an early 4-3 deficit to start the first set into an 8-4 lead. The Cardinals got to within a point, 9-8, but that was as close as they would get in the first set. The Bulldogs extended the lead to 17-13 and then went on an 7-2 run to lead 24-15. St Mary’s got four points in row to make the score 24-19, but the Bulldogs stopped the rally for a 25-19 win. De Smet started the second set with a 5-1 lead, but St Mary responded with a 5-1 run to tie the score 6-6. The two teams were tied again at 9-9. The Cardinals went in front 14-13, but the Bulldogs went on an 8-3 run to take a 21-17 lead. They would finish the second set with a 4-2 run to win 25-19.
The third set started with a 7-4 lead by De Smet. They were able to push that lead to 16-8. St Mary’s went on an 8-0 run to tie the score 16-16. The Bulldogs got the next two points for an 18-16 lead, and they continued to lead 19-18. The Cardinals went on a 4-1 run to take a 22-20 advantage. De Smet tied the score 22-22. St Mary’s responded with two in a row for a 24-22 score. The Bulldogs rallied to tie the set 24-24 and then went ahead 25-24 to be at match point. St Mary’s was able to hold off and tie the score 25-25. They would then score the next two points for a 27-25 win to force a fourth set.
The Cardinals seemed to then pick up some momentum in the fourth set. They held a slim 4-3 and 7-6 lead to start the set. St Mary’s slowly grew the lead to 12-8 and then to 15-9. The Cardinals kept rolling from there and extended the lead to 23-15 before scoring the final two points for a 25-15 victory. St Mary’s carried the surge into the fifth and final set. They started on a 4-0 run and never trailed. The Cardinals pushed the lead to 10-3 and rolled to a 15-9 victory to stun the Bulldogs in five sets.
Emersyn Herber finished with 13 kills, seven blocks, and three ace serves. Harper Werdel added 14 kills, 15 digs, and seven ace serves. Natalie Gilbert had 49 set assists, 14 digs, and two blocks. Maddyn LeBrun had 15 digs and nine kills. Paige Geraets finished with five kills and two blocks. Layla Joe Hanson had 26 digs, and Stephenie Geraets had 13 digs.
