Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

Arlington defeated Dell Rapids St Mary in the “Battle of Cardinals” at St Mary High School on Thursday, September 23rd.  Arlington won in straight sets by scores of 25-14, 27-25, and 25-8.

Arlington got out to a quick seven-point lead early in the first set.  They built a 12-5 lead, but St Mary rallied for six straight points to cut the lead to 12-11.  An Arlington timeout stopped the momentum St Mary had gained.  Arlington finished the set on a 13-3 run to win 25-14.

The second set started much closer as the two were tied 4-4 and then again at 9-9.  The teams traded points until the set was tied again at 14-14.  Arlington went on a 4-0 run for an 18-14 lead, one of the biggest of the set.  St Mary rallied for six straight points and took a 20-18 lead.  St Mary led 23-21 and 24-23, but Arlington scored two in a row to take a 25-24 advantage.  St Mary tied the set at 25-25, but Arlington scored the final two points to steal the set 27-25.

That late rally by Arlington gave them all the momentum heading into the third set.  Arlington scored the first three points and built a 13-3 lead.  They continued to roll from there winning the final set 25-8.

Brianna Griffin had four kills and five blocks in the match.  Courtney Brown finished with 19 digs and three kills.  Maya Heinitz had five digs, two blocks, and three kills.  Ella Griffin finished with five set assists and three blocks.  Brianna Lindeman had seven digs and three set assists.  Madala Hanson added five set assists, and Jaycee Tebay led the team with two ace serves.

St Mary (9-3) will travel to Hills-Beaver Creek, MN on Monday, September 27th and then host Baltic on Tuesday, September 28th.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team picked up a big Region 4B win over the Howard Tigers on Tuesday, September 21st.  The match needed five sets, but the Cardinals won at home by scores of 25-22, 20-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-5.

In the opening set, St Mary kept about a three-point lead early.  The lead grew to six points at 13-7, but the Tigers pulled within a point at 13-12 with a 5-0 run.  St Mary kept the lead and continued to keep a two-to-three point advantage.  Howard got within a point again at 20-19, but the Cardinals finished the set on a 5-3 run for the win.

The second set went back-and-forth in the early stages.  The set was tied a number of times with the latest tie score being 8-8.  Howard then went on a 5-0 run for a 13-8 lead.  The Cardinals were able to get within a point, but the Tigers held off St Mary in the second set for the 25-20 win.

The Cardinals got out to a big lead in the third set, racing out to a 9-3 advantage.  They grew the lead to 10 points at 17-7.  The Tigers put together a rally of their own and cut the lead to two points, 17-15, but the Cardinals ended then run and pushed the lead back to six at 21-15.  St Mary took the third set 25-18.

Neither team was able to get much of an advantage throughout most of the fourth set.  They traded one-point leads and ties until the score was 19-19.  The Cardinals scored the next two points to lead 21-19, but Howard finished the set on a 6-1 run for a 25-22 win to force a fifth set.

The Cardinals came out of the set break with high energy and scored the first five points of the fifth set.  Howard got the next three points to make the score 5-3, but the Cardinals would not lose the lead.  St Mary went on a 9-1 run to lead 14-4 before winning the set and match at 15-5.

Courtney Brown had a monster match for St Mary.  She had 24 kills, 28 digs, and three blocks.  Maya Heinitz finished with 15 kills, 14 digs, and three ace serves. Brianna Lindeman added 26 set assists, 11 digs, and two ace serves.  Addy Gilbert finished with nine kills and two blocks.  Ella Griffin had 16 set assists and an ace.  Whitney Warwick added 11 digs.

St Mary (9-2) will host the Arlington Cardinals on Thursday, September 23rd.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinals had their four match winning streak snapped by the Deubrook Area Dolphins on Thursday, September 16th.  The Dolphins won in four sets by scores 15-25, 25-8, 25-22, and 25-12.

The Cardinals got out to a quick start taking a 9-4 lead in the opening set.  The lead grew to 18-10 as the Cardinals cruised to a 25-15 set win.   St Mary had an early lead in the second set at 5-3, but the Dolphins then went on a big run.  Deubrook went on a 12-3 run to take a 15-8 lead, and then scored the final 10 points of the set to win 25-8.

The third set was back-and-forth throughout most of the set.  Neither team was able to get a lead of more than two to three points.  The set was tied at 18-18.  The Cardinals then took a 20-18 lead, but the Dolphins finished the set on a 7-2 run for a 25-22 victory.  Deubrook carried that momentum into the fourth set as they built a 10-point lead at 16-6.  The Dolphins took the fourth set 25-12 to win the match.

Courtney Brown finished with 15 kills and 12 digs.  Maya Heinitz had nine kills and nine digs.  Ella Griffin tallied six set assists, three ace serves, three blocks, three digs, and two kills.  Brianna Lindeman had 15 set assists and eight digs, and Madala Hanson had 12 set assists and four digs.  Whitney Warwick added 11 digs, while Josie Baumberger had eight digs.  Brianna Griffin finished with seven kills, two digs, and a block.  Addyson Gilbert had four kills and two blocks as well.

The Cardinals (8-2) will host the Howard Tigers on Tuesday, September 21st.

Photo taken and used with permission by Tammy Chamley

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team won their fourth straight match on Monday, September 13th.  The Cardinals defeated the Sioux Falls Lutheran Eagles in straight sets by set scores of 25-10, 25-18, and 26-24.  During their four match winning streak, the Cardinals have only lost one set.  St Mary, now 8-1 on the season, has only lost four sets total on the year.

The Cardinals seemed ready to make quick work of the Eagles.  In the opening set, St Mary scored the six points.  They pushed the lead to 12-2 and continued to roll from there winning the first set 25-10.  Sioux Falls Lutheran regrouped during the break and jumped out to a 10-3 lead to start the second set.   St Mary, though, slowly chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the set at 13-13.  The set was tied again 15-15 before the Cardinals finished the set on a 10-3 run to win 25-18.  The Eagle again got out to an early lead in the third set at 9-2.  St Mary’s comeback was a bit slower than in the second set.  Sioux Falls Lutheran was able to keep a three-to-four point lead throughout much of the middle portion of the set.  The Cardinals eventually tied the set 17-17.  The teams went back and forth trading points until the score was 21-21.  The Eagles then scored the next three points to lead 24-21.  The Cardinals put one more rally together scoring the final five points for the 26-24 win.

Courtney Brown finished with 11 kills, 17 digs, and two ace serves.  Brianna Lindeman had six kills, 14 set assists, four digs, and two ace serves.  Maya Heinitz added seven kills, eight digs, and five ace serves.  Ella Griffin had two ace serves, and a block.  Madala Hanson finished with nine set assists.  Whitney Warwick also had two ace serves, and Brianna Griffin had two blocks. 

The Cardinals will travel to White to play Deubrook on Thursday, September 16th.

The Dell Rapids St Mary Cardinal volleyball team has not had a home match since August 26th.  Since that opening-season home match, the Cardinals went 3-1 in a tournament and now have won three straight road matches.  St Mary defeated the Canistota Hawks in straight sets on Thursday, September 9th.  The set scores were 25-7, 25-22, and 25-11.

Courtney Brown had 15 kills and nine digs in the match.  Maya Heinitz had five kills, seven digs, and two blocks.  Brianna Lindeman finished with 13 set assists, nine digs, four kills and two ace serves.  Ella Griffin had six set assists, four ace serves, three kills, three digs, and a block.  Madala Hanson finished with seven set assists and a dig.  Josie Baumberger added eight digs and an ace serve.  Addy Gilbert had two kills and two digs, and Brianna Griffin had three blocks, two kills and a dig.

The Cardinals will be back home on Monday, September 13th when they host the Sioux Falls Lutheran Eagles.