The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Need just 54 minutes to beat Central McLean, 3-0 —
Reserves Aubree Lachenmeier and Marly Hoffmann give high fives following a point.
Maddie Gefroh rises up for one of her three blocks against the attack of Central McLean's Morgan Snyder. Gefroh had 14 kills in the win for the Thunder.
Nerves? What nerves?
Even if they were playing their first-ever state tournament match, the third-seeded M/P-B Thunder looked for all outward appearances as a seasoned postseason squad when they hit the floor against Central McLean Thursday, Nov. 21.
Coach Jacie Connell's team played steady in set one, were eye-poppingly dominant in set two, and sealed the deal with a mostly tension-free set three to polish off a quick 3-0 sweep over the Cougars, 25-15, 25-9 and 25-17.
Signs that everything was coming up M/P-B were evident in set two. On the serving of Brynn Sorenson, the Thunder raced out to the first 11 points, and led by as much as 17-1 at one point in the set.
Maddie Gefroh finished with 14 kills to lead M/P-B on the court, and the Bismarck State-bound senior was also the top server with three aces, showed her mettle on the block with three stuffs, and finished with seven digs.
Sorenson had nine kills and 15 digs in the win, and Jorgen Tripp and Destiny Opp didn't let the big stage intimidate them, as the junior and sophomore notched eight and five kills in their supporting roles.
Sophomore setter Violet Bohl had 34 assists, 11 digs and two aces, and libero Cierra Mack had 15 digs.
Central McLean's Reagan Kjelstrup carried the Cougar hitters with eight kills, with six apiece coming via Emry Hunt and Morgan Snyder.
Daphne Lauer finished with 25 assists in the Cougar ledger. Adlyn Eng had CMC's lone block, and Sally Heger and Lauer had one ace each.
In the back row, libero Lindsey Abrahamson was the only Cougar in double figures with 10 digs.
Other results from first round play in the "top" bracket witnessed South Prairie/Max take a three-set win over Kenmare-Bowbells to earn the right to take on M/P-B in Friday, Nov. 22's semifinal round (see above article).
From evening session results, top seed and traditional Class B power Langdon Area/Munich sweated out an intense five-set thriller to survive Dickinson Trinity after taking the first two sets, and fifth-seeded Thompson, another decorated small school program, swept #4 Fargo Oak Grove.
Thursday's results would set up a semi round pitting the new bloods (SP/M and M/P-B) and the blue bloods (LA/M and Thompson) opposite each other.
State Class B Volleyball
Tournament, Fargodome
First Round
M/P-B 3, Central McLean 0
CMC 15 9 17 - 0
M/P-B 25 25 25 - 3
M/P-B Individual Stats
Kills: Maddie Gefroh 14, Brynn Sorenson 9, Jorgen Tripp 8, Destiny Opp 5, Violet Bohl 2, Savannah Reister 1.
Assists: Bohl 34, Sorenson 2, Cierra Mack and Opp 1.
Aces: Gefroh 3, Bohl 2, Mack, Samantha Reister, Sorenson and Tripp 1.
Blocks: Gefroh 3, Shayla Martin, Opp and Sorenson 2, Tripp 1.
Digs: Mack 15, Sorenson 14, Bohl 11, Gefroh 7, Samantha Reister 6, Martin 4, Tripp 2, Opp and Savannah Reister 1.
Central McLean Individual Stats
Kills: Reagan Kjelstrup 8, Emry Hunt and Morgan Snyder 6, Adlyn Eng 4, Sally Heger 2, Sadie O'Shea 1.
Assists: Daphne Lauer 25.
Aces: Heger and Lauer 1.
Blocks: Eng 1.
Digs: Lindsey Abrahamson 10, Snyder 5, Kjelstrup 4, Zella Anderson, Emma Fischer and Hunt 2, Eng 1.
