The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team finished 1-3 at the Estelline Early Bird Tournament on Saturday, August 30th.  The Cardinals won their first match of pool play against Clark/Willow Lake 25-21, 25-22.  St Mary then lost their second pool play match to Wolsey/Wessington 23-25, 21-25.

After the pool play was completed, the Cardinals played two more matches in the “Silver” bracket of the tournament.  They lost their next match to Viborg/Hurley 18-25, 18-25, and lost their final match of the day to Estelline 21-25, 25-17, 14-25.

The Cardinals are now 1-4 on the season.  St Mary will travel to Arlington on Tuesday, September 2nd.

The DeSmet Bulldogs defeated the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals 3-1 on Monday, October 28th, in Dell Rapids by scores of 25-14, 20-25, 25-17, 25-15.

DeSmet started off the match and first game with a 9-1 run, and then extended that lead to 15-3.  The Cardinals were not able to recover from the large deficit as DeSmet went on to win the first game.  The second game was back and forth early, but the Cardinals were able to get a 16-9 lead.  DeSmet, however, tied the game at 16-16.  Dell Rapids St Mary scored the next three points though, and went on to win the second game.  The third game was again back and forth to start was tied 12-12.  The two teams again were tied 16-16, but DeSmet scored the next five points, and finished the game on a 9-1 run.  The Bulldogs again used an early run to open up game four, jumping out to a 9-1 lead.  The Cardinals were only able to close the game to 15-7 before falling by a final score of 25-15.

The loss drops the Cardinal record to 12-15 on the season.  Dell Rapids St Mary finished up the regular season at home hosting Canistota on Thursday, October 31st.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals volleyball team picked up their eighth win of the year by defeating the Freeman Flyers 25-20, 25-11, 27-25 on Monday, October 7th.

Freeman jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first game.  The Cardinals countered with a 5-0 run to take the lead.  Freeman again had another short lead at 8-5, but St Mary took control of game one from that point onwards.  The Cardinals slowly increased their lead to 22-15.  Freeman closed the game to 22-20, but St Mary ended the game on a 3-0 run.  The two teams traded early points in the second game.  With the game tied at 3-3, the Cardinals reeled off eight straight points to go ahead 11-3.  The Flyers were able to get within three points at 11-8, but that was as close as they would get.  The Cardinals went on a 11-0 run to go ahead 22-8 before closing the game out at 25-11.  In the final game, the teams battled tough all game long.  Neither team was ahead by more than a couple of points, and the game was tied 13-13.  St Mary was able to grab a 21-17 lead, but Freeman scored six points in a row to go ahead 23-21.  St Mary tied the game at 23-23, and then again at 25-25.  The Cardinals were able to get the final two points for the match win.

Dell Rapids St Mary improves to 8-11 on the year.  The Cardinals will host Estelline on Thursday, October 10th.

Highlights

The Colman/Egan Hawks defeated the Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals in volleyball action on Thursday, September 26th, by scores of 25-22, 15-25, 25-14, 27-25.  Game one was back and forth through much of the game.  Neither team had a lead bigger than three points, and the game was tied at 19-19.  The Hawks picked up three points to push the lead to 22-19 on the way to the win.  The first part of game two again started back and forth.  With the game tied at 6-6, Dell Rapids St Mary ran off eight straight points for a 14-6 lead.  Colman/Egan closed the gap at 18-14, but the Cardinals ended the second game on a 7-1 run for the win.  Game three was also tied at 6-6, but this time the Hawks took the momentum first on an 11-4 run to take the lead at 17-10, and then they finished off the third game on an 8-4 run for the win.  The fourth game had just about everything.  The two teams were tied at 5-5 before the Cardinals pushed the lead to 9-6.  Dell Rapids St Mary also lead by a score of 11-9, but Colman/Egan rallied for eight straight points for a 17-11 lead.  Dell Rapids St Mary would not go away quietly as the Cardinals kept chipping away at the lead.  The Cardinals pulled within two points at 19-21, and eventually tied the game at 24-24.  The game was again tied at 25-25 before the Hawks picked up the final two points for the match win.

Dell Rapids St Mary falls to 4-8 on the year.  The Cardinals will play in a tournament in Elkton on Saturday, September 28th.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team hosted the Arlington Cardinals in their first home match of the 2013 season on Thursday, September 5th.  The Arlington Cardinals came away with the win 25-19, 25-15, 25-8.  The first set was back and forth until Arlington went on a run mid-way through the set.  Dell Rapids St Mary was unable to get any closer than the six points at the end of the first set.  Again the second set was back and forth in the early goings, but Arlington used another run mid-way through the second set to go up 2-0.  Arlington used the momentum going into the third set and continued for the 3-0 win.

Dell Rapids St Mary falls to 1-5 on the year, and will travel to Freeman to take on Freeman Academy Tuesday, September 10th.

Highlights

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team is looking to improve on their 12-win season from a year ago.  The Cardinals will look to seniors Abby Siemonsma, Kelly Michel, Amber Hansen, and Kiley Reecy, along with juniors Kaitlyn Vortherms and Ally Mullaney for leadership this year.  After losing six seniors from last year’s team, these six players feel like it’s a brand new team.

“With losing six seniors from last year, we are starting over.  It’s a brand new team with new coaches,” said Mullaney.

The Cardinals are under new leadership this year with head coach Nate Alfson and assistant coach Jamie Rasmussen.

“Jamie and I have high expectations of improving on the 12-win season from last year.  They have improved a lot from the start of practice and this is a fun group.  Our seniors are quiet leaders and tend to lead more by example.  Our juniors a bit more vocal,” said Alfson.

The Cardinals kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at the Estelline Early Bird tournament.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team won three matches and lost two at the Elkton Tournament on Saturday, September 24th.  The Cardinals opened up the tournament with a win over Centerville, 25-21, 25-22.  Tori Michel led the team with three aces.  Danielle Fiegen had six kills in the match, while Lexie LeBrun added five.  T. Michel also led the team in set assists with eight.  Kelly Michel led the Cardinal defense with 10 digs, and Rachel Scholten had nine.  Dell Rapids St Mary dropped the second match to Alcester-Hudson, 13-25, 17-25.  In that match, T. Michel and LeBrun each had a service ace.  Fiegen had six kills, and T. Michel had five set assists.  The defense was led by K. Michel with eight digs.

The Cardinals then went on to defeat Iroquois in a three-set match, 21-25, 25-21, 25-12.  LeBrun and K. Michel each had three aces.  Fiegen had four kills in the match, and T. Michel once again led the team with six assists.  LeBrun also picked up 13 digs in the match, and K. Michel added eight.  In the fourth match of the day, Dell Rapids St Mary lost to Elkton-Lake Benton in two sets, 21-25, 17-25.  Fiegen this time led the Cardinals with three service aces.  She also led the team in kills with five in the match.  Abby Siemonsma this time led the Cardinals with five assists.  LeBrun had seven digs defensively for Dell Rapids St Mary.

The Cardinals finished their day with a two-set win over the Flandreau Indian School, 25-15, 25-8.  K. Michel and Ally Mullaney each had five aces in the match.  K. Michel also led the team in kills with three.  Siemonsma had six assists, and Kiley Reecy and Siemonsma paced the defense with seven digs apiece.  Siemonsma also had three solo blocks in the match.

Dell Rapids St Mary’s record moved to 9-9 after the tournament.  The Cardinals will host Baltic on Tuesday, September 25th in their next match.