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After tough loss to Velva, Panthers rebound, defeat Stars 3-0

By Sue Sitter - | Oct 16, 2021

Photo cutline: Sue Sitter/PCT Rugby’s Annika Johnson sets the ball in Oct. 7’s win against the Bottineau Stars in Rugby.

Although the Rugby High Panthers volleyball squad endured what Coach Jessica Fritz called “a long couple of weeks,” they brought enough energy to their home court Oct. 7 to defeat the Bottineau Stars in three sets.

“We went Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday this week, so these girls have played hard,” Fritz said after the Oct. 7 win. “They are a little bit tired. Playing a five-set game Tuesday was really hard. They were exhausted yesterday.”

The Panthers’ exhaustion the day before was understandable. Rugby had hosted another top district team, Velva, in Rugby High’s Charlie Hanneman Gym Tuesday, Oct. 5. The Panthers went five sets against the Aggies before falling two sets to three, 25-13, 19-28, 29-27, 19-25 and 10-15.

The Aggies found their fire after set one and refused to let go of the fight for the next four sets.

Rugby’s outside hitter Mykell Heidlebaugh notched an impressive 13 kills and middle blockers Kendra Leier and Peyton Hauck made 12 each overall. Leier also scored four aces, while Hauck had two blocks for the evening. Libero Anna Johnson had 32 digs recorded for the game and outside hitter Brooke Anderson had 19. Setters Kiah Gault and Joey Wolf each racked up over 20 assists, with 25 for Gault and 21 for Wolf.

However, Velva’s Whitney Schepp notched 11 kills and three blocks, while Jadyn Sandy made nine kills and 19 digs. Katie Mack made six kills for the Aggies. Haley Heisler made six aces and 20 digs. Alara Marsch made four aces, one block and 11 assists. Makya Kostenko added 10 assists and one block to Velva’s total.

“Tuesday, they played a solid match. There was nothing to hang their heads about. Velva’s a great team,” Fritz said.

However, Fritz said she reminded the Panthers “some things are beyond our control. We’ve just got to play our game all the time, keep the energy, do our game and just have fun. Tonight, they had fun, they relaxed and the little things worked.”

A more relaxed attitude showed in the Panthers’ play Oct. 7 when they took on the Stars of Bottineau. Team members smiled on the court. Rugby High’s student section kept the fun going from the sidelines.

Anderson struck the first blow for the Panthers with a kill in match one. Both teams stayed neck and neck, with a kill by Bottineau’s outside hitter Kylie Simpson, then an ace by Rugby’s Hauck after a sideout. After a 6-6 tie, the Panthers pulled ahead and never looked back. Rugby’s defensive line of Hauck and Leier allowed the Stars only one more point. The Panthers won the set 25-7.

Kills by Bottineau’s Emma Rybchinski helped the Stars stay closer to Rugby for set two. Rugby errors and Bottineau points early in the game gave the Stars an early lead until aces by Anderson and Hauck and Bottineau errors tied the score at 4-4. Both sides traded net errors, then Bottineau’s Delani Tweed powered through a Rugby block to tie again 6-6. Rugby slowly moved ahead with help from blocks by Hauck and kills by Leier. Rugby’s lead grew to 16-11 with an Anderson kill.

Frustrated by attacks sailing out of bounds and net errors, the Stars refused to give up. Rybchinski sent Panthers diving to the floor with more kills before Rugby’s Annika Johnson landed an attack between Stars, whose miscommunication allowed the point. With set point in sight for the Panthers, both teams kept a long rally going, trading kill attempts and making impossible-looking saves. However, the ball bounced out in the Stars’ favor. With a narrow 22-18 lead for Rugby, Leier made a kill and the Stars returned an attack into the net. At set point for Rugby, a misserve gave the Stars a temporary reprieve. But a kill by Leier sewed up the game for the Panthers 25-19.

The game’s third battle began with a kill by Anderson. Rugby shot out ahead of Bottineau 6-2 before mixed signals and net balls for Rugby gave a few points to the Stars. Undaunted, the Panthers kept smiles on their faces, shrugged off the minor mistakes and forged ahead.

An ace by Bottineau’s Serenity Soland, the only one for the Stars, shrank the Panthers’ lead to 9-8. An ace by Anna Johnson would follow on the next sideout. The Panthers moved far ahead again, stretching their lead to 15-11 with an ace by Gault. Bottineau’s Simpson sent Panthers diving to the floor once more. Next came out-of-bounds attacks by the Panthers and their lead shrank again, 15-14. A tipped kill by Anderson and a slammed kill by Heidlebaugh came next as the score climbed. After another kill by Hauck, Rugby’s lead sat at 19-14 and Stars Coach Rebecca Moen called a timeout.

The battle intensified. The Panthers failed to save a ball bounced up into the gym’s rafters, giving the Stars another point. Another attack sailed out of bounds and a misserve combined with Bottineau errors and another Leier kill to put the Panthers ahead 21-17. Simpson made her last kill – and the last point – for the Stars in the set. With a 22-18 lead, Rugby coasted to victory. An Anderson tip over the net gave Rugby the final win, 25-18.

After the game, Fritz said the Panthers had another busy weekend ahead of them. “They’ve got to recover quickly and be ready for a tournament on Saturday,” she said.

Fritz said she planned to remind the Panthers to stay healthy. “That’s always something I’ve been preaching since the beginning of the season. With COVID, I remind them to stay healthy, get some sleep and rest. Those are some important things.”