Volleyball: Sturgis gives Central fits, but falls in three sets

By Joe Kavanaugh, Journal correspondent | Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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RAPID CITY — Monday night’s District 4AA volleyball game between Rapid City Central and Sturgis was expected by some to be a relatively easy Cobbler warm-up for a highly anticipated Tuesday night championship match-up with Rapid City Stevens.

Apparently somebody forgot to tell the Scoopers, because they battled tough before finally succumbing to the Cobblers, 25-22, 25-14, 25-23.

Sturgis was down two games and trailing 15-5 in the third after a couple of kills and a booming block by Caitlin Templeton put up three quick points and a long eight-point service run by Carrie Zastrow did the early damage.

Sturgis seemed seconds away from packing the bus for a quick trip back up

I-90. But they roared back behind some excellent serving, and a series of well-placed kills by senior Rebekah Larson. The comeback was aided by a number of untimely, unforced errors by the Cobblers. Before the dust had settled, the Scoopers had forged a 23-22 lead.

That, however, is where the magical slipper tightened. An Andrea Johnson spike knotted the score at 23, and a couple of Sturgis unforced errors later the set and match were over.

“Our goal was three games, and we got that, survived and moved on,” said Central coach Shelly Wolfe. “We kind of had a feeling it was going to be a light sluggish tonight since it has been exactly two weeks since we played a match. For that reason we wanted to get everybody involved tonight, and we did with a balanced effort. And you have to give Sturgis credit, too. They changed some things and caught us off-guard at times and really battled.”

The first game of the evening kind of set the table for the night’s action as it, too, had more plot twists than a Shakespearean comedy. As an early Cobbler lead — 7-1 — slowly dissolved behind some excellent blocking before the taller Cobbler frontline finally took charge late behind junior Kenzie Slater and senior Kattie Ranta. At 22-all, a Slater cross-court kill after a superb dig by Carrie Zastrow was followed by a game-winning kill by Courtney Carmichael.

The Cobblers caught their breath in the second game winning easily which as it turned they very much needed.

“The first and third game we really battled though the second wasn’t too pretty,” said Sturgis coach Sharon Peterson. “Central is big and hard to block with all the good hitters they have. We were scrappy for most of the night which we have to be because of our lack of height, so I’m happy with our effort and we are looking forward to tomorrow night at home.”

Outside hitter Kenzie Slater, who had five kills on the night, thought that her team played well considering the long layoff.

“We worked pretty well as a team tonight. We were just trying to come back together as a team after the long break and the snow days besides.”

Caitlin Templeton led a well-balanced Cobbler attack with eight kills while Courtney Carmichael and Lacey Lehmann added six each. Carmichael also contributed 17 kill assists while Kattie Ranta led the team in digs with 11.

For Sturgis, Rebekah Larson had a big night with 10 kills, and Emily Lynass led the back-line defense with 13 digs.

The win propels the Cobblers (19-14 overall) into the District Championship game Tuesday night at Rapid City Stevens in a 7 p.m. start. The winner will earn an automatic berth in next week's Class AA State Tournament in Rapid City. Meanwhile, Sturgis (7-18) will host Douglas tonight with the winner advancing to a Regional playoff game on Friday along with the loser of the Central/Stevens match. Regional sites are as yet undetermined.