The #11 seeded West Central Trojans played a very close, tough match against #6 Hamlin in the SoDak 16 on Tuesday, November 11th in Madison. Unfortunately the Hamlin Chargers advanced to the state tournament with a five-set win by scores of 25-21, 12-25, 16-25, 25-19, and 15-9.
The Trojans opened the first set with a quick 4-0 run. Hamlin battled back to tie the score 5-5. After a 6-6 tie, Hamlin went ahead 9-6. The Trojans rallied to tie the set at 10-10. The two teams traded points back-and-forth and were still tied at 17-17. The Chargers would go ahead 20-17. That run kept them in the lead the rest of the way. They led 23-20 before taking the first set 25-21.
The second set went back-and-forth to a tie of 5-5. The teams were again tied 8-8. West Central went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-8 advantage. They continued to lead 16-11 and then went on a 5-0 run for a 21-11 advantage. The Trojans closed out the second set with a 25-12 win. That momentum carried over into the start of the third set. West Central started with a 4-1 lead. After leading 7-5, the Trojans went on a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 13-5. They extended the lead to 22-12. West Central would take the third set 25-16.
The Chargers scored the first two points of the fourth set, but West Central went on a 5-1 run to lead 5-3. Hamlin tied the score 5-5. The score was tied at 6-6 and 7-7. The Chargers were able to get a slim 11-10 lead and then pushed it to 15-11. The Trojans got within a point, 15-14, but Hamlin went on a 5-0 run to make the score 20-14. That run kept the Chargers in front the rest of the set to a 25-19 win, forcing a fifth and final set.
After a 1-1 start, the Chargers went on a 5-0 run for a 6-1 lead. West Central cut the lead to 6-4, but the Chargers extended the lead to 9-4. Hamlin was able to grow the lead to 13-6. The Trojans were only able to cut the lead down to 13-8 before Hamlin won the set, and the match, 15-9.
The Trojans finished the 2025 season with an overall record of 22-9.
