The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals advanced to the second round of the 2018 Region 4B Tournament after an opening round win over the Howard Tigers. The Cardinals defeated the Tigers in straight sets by scores of 25-22, 25-17, 25-16 at Dell Rapids St Mary High School.
The #7 seeded Cardinals got off to a quick start in the first set. St Mary got out to an 8-3 lead on Howard, and led 12-6 as the two teams neared the midway mark of the first set. Howard rallied and took a 17-15 lead. The Tigers extended the lead to 20-17, but the Cardinals found their own rally late in the set to tie Howard at 22-22. St Mary was able to finish off the set with three straight points to take the early advantage in the match.
Howard took the early advantage in the second set and held an early 5-3 lead. After the two teams were tied at 8-8, the Cardinals went on a 10-5 run to take control of the set at 18-13. St Mary closed out the set on a 7-4 run for their second set win. The Tigers again got out to a fast start in the third set scoring the first five points for a 5-0 lead. The Cardinals regroups and went on a 7-2 run to tie the set at 7-7. The two teams were tied at 8-8 and 9-9. That’s when St Mary found more momentum and outscored Howard 9-2 for an 18-11. The Cardinals controlled the rest of the set for the match win.
Cassie Mullaney finished with eight kills. Maddie Schwebach added seven kills, Tyra Harrington had five kills, and Veronica Beck had four kills. Ella Heinitz tallied 18 set assists and four digs. Carly Maxwell finished with 13 digs. V. Beck added five digs and four ace serves. Olivia Beck, Macie Brown and Courtney Brown all had four digs each. Schwebach also had three solo blocks.
St Mary (10-16) advances to the second round and will play the #2 seeded Ethan Rustlers on Tuesday, October 30th. The match is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at Madison High School. The match can be seen on Big Sioux Media.