The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team placed seventh at the Dakota Valley Conference tournament held in Estelline on Saturday, October 19th.  The Cardinals finished 2-2 on the day.

St Mary lost both of their matches in opening pool play of the tournament.  The Cardinals fell to De Smet in three sets by scores of 10-25, 25-22, and 25-20.  St Mary also lost to Castlewood in straight sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-13.

The two losses in pool play put the Cardinals into the Bronze pool to place out 7th, 8th and 9th places.  St Mary defeated Lake Preston in straight sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-9.  They also defeated Oldham-Ramona/Rutland in straight sets of 25-18 and 25-17.

The Cardinals (10-14) will host Lake Preston on Tuesday, October 22nd in their final home match of the regular season.  The seniors will be recognized during the match, and the match can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

DVC Tourney Result Summary:

1. Elkton/Lake Benton (4-0)
2. Castlewood (3-1)
3. Colman-Egan (2-2)
4. Estelline/Hendricks (3-1)
5. Deubrook Area (2-2)
6. De Smet (1-3)
7. Dell Rapids St Mary (2-2)
8. Oldham-Ramona/Rutland (1-3)
9. Lake Preston (0-4)

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals got back into the win column with a straight-set win over the Centerville Tornadoes on Tuesday, October 15th.  St Mary won by set scores 25-9, 25-11, and 25-9.  The win snapped a six-match losing streak for the Cardinals.

Ella Heinitz finished the match with 14 set assists, 13 kills, seven digs, one ace, and one block.  Ella Griffin had 10 set assists and nine digs.  Courtney Brown added seven kills, five digs, and an ace.  Paige Bunkers finished with two digs and two ace serves.  Tyra Harrington tallied three kills and three set assists, and Addy Gilbert had seven kills and a dig.

The Cardinals (8-11) will travel to Castlewood for a match against the Warriors on Thursday, October 17th.

Dell Rapids St Mary hosted Arlington in the annual battle of the Cardinals on Thursday, October 10th.  Arlington took the match in four sets by scores of 25-16, 23-25, 25-15, and 25-17.

After an early 3-3 tie, St Mary took a 7-3 lead in the opening set of the match.  Arlington then went on an 11-4 run to take a 14-11 lead.  Arlington would keep the lead and take the first set.

St Mary took another early lead in the second set at 7-4, but this time they would maintain a two-to-three point lead through most of the set.  Arlington did tie the game at 19-19 and again at 22-22, but St Mary took the win to even the match.

The third set went back-and-forth early.  The game was tied at 10-10, but Arlington then went on a run to take control of the set.  Arlington outscored St Mary 11-3 to lead 21-13 before winning the third set 25-15.

The fourth set was once again close early, but Arlington slowly built a five point lead at 13-8.  The lead grew to 19-11.  St Mary went on a little run and pulled within four points at 19-15, but that was as close as St Mary would get.  Arlington won the fourth set 25-17 for the match win.

Courtney Brown had 11 kills, and Ella Heinitz had 10 kills to lead St Mary.  E. Heinitz also had 15 set assists and 12 digs.  Ella Griffin finished with 12 set assists and 11 digs.  C. Brown led the team with 19 digs, Maya Heinitz had 11 digs, and Macie Brown had 10 digs.

St Mary (7-11) will travel to Centerville on Tuesday, October 15th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team came out swinging in a match against Class A Garretson Blue Dragons on Tuesday, October 8th, but the Blue Dragons were able to survive the early rally and win the match.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in the first set.  Every time Garretson closed within a point or two, St Mary had an answer.  The Cardinals took the first set of the match by a score of 25-19.

The second set was back and forth early, but the Blue Dragons eventually took the lead.  St Mary was able to pull within a point a couple of times in the set, but Garretson pulled away for the win at 25-19 to even the match.

Garretson seemed to start to take momentum away from St Mary after winning the second set.  They were able to build leads in the third and fourth sets that the Cardinals could not overcome.  The Blue Dragons won the third set by a score of 25-18 and then won the fourth set at 25-14 to win the match.

Courtney Brown had a team high 11 kills.  Tyra Harrington had nine kills, and Ella Heinitz finished with seven kills.  E. Heinitz also had 13 set assists and 18 digs.  Ella Griffin finished with 11 set assists and 15 digs.  Brown added 17 digs and two ace serves.  Maya Heinitz also finished with 16 digs.

St Mary (7-10) will host Arlington on Thursday, October 10th in the battle of the Cardinals.  The match can be seen on Big Sioux Media.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals traveled to White to play the Deubrook Area Dolphins on Monday, October 7th. Deubrook took the match in straight sets by scores of 25-20, 25-7, and 25-14.

Tyra Harrington finished the night with six kills and three set assists. Courtney Brown had six kills and 16 digs. Ella Griffin finished with four kills, eight set assists, and nine digs. Ella Heinitz added three kills, 10 set assists, and six digs. Maya Heinitz had 12 digs, and Macie Brown had eight digs.

St Mary (7-9) will host the Garretson Blue Dragons on Tuesday, October 8th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals fell short in a five-set thrilling match to the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders on Thursday, October 3rd.

The Raiders won the first set by a score of 25-22.  The Cardinals bounced back to tie the match with a 25-23 win.  Oldham-Ramona/Rutland regained the advantage with a 25-21 third set win.  St Mary forced a fifth and final set with a win the fourth set by a score of 25-18.  The Raiders took the match with a extra time 17-15 win.

Ella Heinitz finished with 15 kills, 10 set assists, and 17 digs.  Ella Griffin finished with eight kills, four blocks, 18 set assists, and 16 digs.  Macie Brown logged 11 kills and 21 digs.  Addy Gilbert had 13 digs and five kills.  Maya Heinitz finished with a team-high 20 digs.  Paige Bunkers had six aces in the match.

The Cardinals (7-8) will travel to White to face the Deubrook Area Dolphins on Monday, October 7th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals hosted the Baltic Bulldogs in volleyball action on Tuesday, October 1st.  Baltic won a close match in straight sets by scores of 25-21, 25-20, and 25-17.

Courtney Brown finished the match with nine kills followed by Ella Heinitz with six kills.  Heinitz also had 14 set assists and eight digs.  Ella Griffin had eight set assists and four digs.  Macie Brown had a team high 11 digs.  Maya Heinitz had eight digs, and Brown finished with six digs.

Sami Polzin had 10 kills, 16 digs, and four ace serves for Baltic.  Shelby Dosch had eight kills, 13 digs, and three ace serves.  Amber Hartman finished with 15 set assists and 11 digs.  Elyssa Clark added 10 digs and three ace serves.

The Cardinals will travel to Ramona to play the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders on Thursday, October 3rd.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals hosted Dakota Valley Conference foe Elkton-Lake Benton in volleyball action Thursday, September 26th.  The Elks defeated the Cardinals in straight sets by scores of 25-12, 25-17, and 25-11.

The St Mary offense at the net was held to just five total kills in the match.  Ella Heinitz and Courtney Brown both had two kills each.  Ella Griffin had the other kill.  Griffin also had two set assists and eight digs.  Heinitz had three set assists, five digs and one block.  C. Brown and Macie Brown both had 11 digs in the match.

The Cardinals will host Baltic on Tuesday, October 1st.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals played 10 sets in a span of about 24 hours.  The Cardinals traveled to Canistota on Monday, September 23rd and then hosted the Howard Tigers on Tuesday, September 24th.

St Mary lost a five-set match to the Hawks in a make-up from earlier in the season.  The Hawks  cruised to a 25-13 win in the first, and then took the second set in extra time at 30-28.  The Cardinals fought back to win the third set at 26-24.  St Mary was down to match point at 24-19 in the fourth set, but rallied for six straight points to take a 25-24 lead.  The Cardinals eventually won the fourth set 27-25.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Hawks took the fifth and final set by a score of 15-13.

Courtney Brown had 12 kills and 23 digs in the match.  Ella Heiniz finished with seven kills, 19 set assists, and 16 digs.  Ella Griffin had six kills, 12 set assists, and nine digs.  Addy Gilbert also had six kills.  Macie Brown had a team-high 28 digs.  Maya Heinitz added 23 digs and five ace serves.  Paige Bunkers finished with seven ace serves.

The Cardinals then had to host the Tigers the next night.  Again the Cardinals got locked into a five-set match, and also for the second night in a row, St Mary found themselves down two sets.  Howard took the first two sets in extra time by scores of 26-24 and 27-25.  The Cardinals rallied to take the third set 25-22 and then also won the fourth set 25-19.  St Mary rode the momentum and took the fifth set and match by a score of 15-10.

C. Brown led the team again in kills with 13 on the night along with 29 digs.  E. Heinitz finished with 11 kills, 21 set assists, 28 digs, and five ace serves.  Griffin added nine kills, 15 set assists, and 17 digs.  Gilbert had nine kills and nine digs.  Tyra Harrington added seven kills.  M. Heinitz led the team with 30 digs.  M. Brown tallied 21 digs on the night.

St Mary (7-5) will host Elkton-Lake Benton on Thursday, September 26th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals held their first home match in over two weeks on Thursday, September 19th when they hosted the Estelline/Hendricks Redhawks.  Unfortunately the Cardinals couldn’t stop the Redhawks as Estelline/Hendricks won in straight sets by scores of 25-21, 25-16, 25-20.

The Cardinals grabbed early momentum in the first set.  Trailing by one at 9-8, St Mary went on a 6-0 run for a 14-9 lead prompting the Redhawks to call a timeout.  The timeout worked as Estelline/Hendricks was able to stop the momentum and go on a run of their own.  The Redhawks went on a 14-2 run out of the timeout for a 23-16 lead on their way to the 25-21 set win.

Estelline/Hendricks continued to ride the momentum in the second set.  They jumped out to an early lead and maintained a four-to-six point advantage throughout much of the set.  The Cardinals were able to pull within three points at 17-14, but the Redhawks closed out the set on a 8-2 run to take a 2-0 advantage.

The Redhawks jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, but the Cardinals got their offense rolling and went on a 5-0 run for a 6-4 lead.  St Mary kept a small lead throughout much of the game.  Estelline/Hendricks tied the set a couple of times, but each time St Mary was able to regain the lead.  However, after the Redhawks tied the set at 18-18, Estelline/Hendricks took control and went on a 7-2 run to close out the match for the win.

Tyra Harrington finished the match with six kills and nine digs.  Ella Heinitiz had five kills, eight set assists, six digs, and two blocks.  Ella Griffin added four kills, 10 set assists, and 13 digs.  Courtney Brown had four kills.  Maya Heinitz and Macie Brown both had 11 digs each.

The Cardinals (6-4) will travel to Canistota on Monday, September 23rd for their next match.