The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
All Region 4 team. Back row (l to r): Meredith Romfo, L/E/M; Gianna Ahlberg, North Star; Ashley Keller, HWC; Lanae Gourd, Four Winds-Minnewaukan; Aubrey Kenner, Benson County; Payton Harpestad and Elle Nicholas, North Star; Cora Badding, L/E/M; Lora Wobbema, NR-S; and Braylee Keller, HWC. Front row: Kaiya O'Connor, NR-S; Morgen Disrud, St. John; Ava Peterson, NR-S; Jaya Henderson, L/E/M; Madison Samuelson, North Prairie; Kelsie Belquist, NR-S; Jalynn Swanson, L/E/M; Kali Fike, HWC; Mya Luehring, Nelson County; and Jenna Rosinski, North Prairie.
The second crack at greatness for the New Rockford-Sheyenne volleyball team ended up being much tougher than their successful first attempt just one year ago.
In 2022, the Rockets flew under the radar, played the match of their lives, and shocked the Langdon/Edmore/Munich Cardinals in four sets for their first-ever Class B Tournament berth.
Four sets came and went in this year's Region 4 championship, with each team registering two victories, and the final set to 15 points meant everyone's blood pressure went spiking through the roof.
Off a two-point loss in their potential clinching fourth set, the Rockets went to work, shutting down L/E/M for a ten-point win and their second consecutive trip to state, by final scores of 25-22, 12-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 15-5.
Coach Sara Myhre's team will hope to improve on last year's fifth place showing in Bismarck, this time traveling to the Fargodome.
Illustrating the historical dominance of Langdon teams in Region 4, the back-to-back titles by NR-S represents only the second time since 1998 that the Cardinals have not made the state tournament in consecutive seasons. The last time was 2013-14, when Carrington (now Region 3) and North Star were the Class B tourney qualifiers in those respective years.
Kelsie Belquist, along with Kaiya O'Connor, Ava Peterson and Lora Wobbema, were named to this season's All-Region 4 Team for the Rockets following the tournament.
HWC had three players selected to the team, Ashley Keller, Braylee Keller and Kali Fike.
Belquist was the Region 4 Senior Athlete of the Year, and longtime L/E/M Coach Rich Olson, who got his 1,000th career victory in the semifinals, was Coach of the Year.
The Rockets (29-6) started year two at the State B Tournament last Thursday afternoon, November 16, at the Fargodome. NR-S, one of the three unseeded teams, drew third seed Our Redeemer's from Minot. The Knights posted a record of 35-8, defeating South Prairie/Max in the Region 6 championship.
Other first round matchups pitted #2 overall seed May-Port-CG (33-3) against Trenton (22-2-2), top seed Dickinson Trinity (36-1) opposite Shiloh Christian (31-8), and the #4/#5 game featured Northern Cass (32-5) taking on Region 3 champion LaMoure/Litchville-Marion (26-11).
For more coverage of the Rockets' postseason journey, visit our sister publication's website at http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com, or pick up a copy of the Transcript wherever they are sold.
