MITCHELL - Five of the Rapid City Central volleyball team's starters are six feet or taller. Mitchell's roster has none.

The Cobblers used their height advantage Friday night to sweep the Kernels 3-0 in the Mitchell High School gymnasium.

"I love my kids to death, but I wish they would have drank more Miracle-Gro when they were younger," Mitchell head coach Deb Thill said, jokingly. "We don't match up against tall teams very well."

Rapid City Central started the first game with a 4-0 run, and never looked back throughout the match. Scores of the games were 25-18,

25-18 and 25-15.

The Cobblers used their height in the front row in all three games, setting up their hitters for many kill attempts.

Although they only hit 74 percent in the match, which Cobblers head coach Shelly Wolfe said was low, the team scored most of its points with kills by Caitlin Templeton and Courtney Carmichael.

"By far this was the best match we've played offensively," Wolfe said. "We learned some new plays and quickened up our offense and it worked."

Mitchell kept the first game close with the score was tied at 18. Then, Rapid City Central's hitters went on a tear. The Cobblers scored seven-straight points to take the first game.

"After that, the kids didn't step up and they played slow," Thill said. "We were hoping to get a touch on their kills, but we just couldn't."

Rapid City Central recorded five aces in the second game, as Mitchell serve received poorly according to Thill. The Cobblers had eight total aces in the match.

The Kernels' Stephanie Uher tried to step up her team's offense, totaling four kills and an ace in the second game, but Rapid City Central pulled away early and Mitchell couldn't make a run.

"If we can serve well and keep them out of their offense it does great things for our offense," Wolfe said.

In the third game, Mitchell stuck with the Cobblers for the first 12 points. Then, Rapid City's offense sparked again.

The team went on a 7-0 run, including two aces, and would eventually take its 13th win of the season, and got back to .500.

"We worked on a lot of offensive stuff this week in practice," Mitchell libero Taylor Piper said. "Practice is where we need to be more efficient to get better."

Mitchell lost its second-straight match, and faces Rapid City Stevens today.

Uher finished the match with nine kills, 10 digs and two aces. Setter Kendra Knight had 15 assists and eight digs, and Kendell Smith and Piper each had nine digs.

For Rapid City Central, Carlee Ham and Jo Wiege each had eight digs, Carrie Zastrrow had 11 assists and Carmichael had 16 assists and seven kills. Templeton led the game with 10 kills and Kenzie Slater had six kills.

BELLE FOURCHE 3, CUSTER 1: The Belle Fourche volleyball team avenged an earlier loss to Custer, 25-18, 25-8, 21-25, 25-16, on Friday.

"Belle came out and was a lot more aggressive," Custer head coach Renae Schneider. "They wanted more and it showed."

The Broncs were led by Treanna Kraft who had 13 kills and Brianne Anderson added seven.

Schneider said the key for her team's third-game victory came down to improved communication.

Melissa Flores led the Wildcats with eight kills and four solo blocks and Taava Cooper added four kills and two blocks.

Custer (10-17 overall) plays in Newell today at 3:30 p.m. and the Broncs (9-11) are at the Douglas Tournament.

HURON 3, RAPID CITY STEVENS 0: The Huron Tiger volleyball team snapped its three-match losing streak by knocking off Rapid City Stevens in three games

25-18, 25-17, 25-17 on Thursday night in Huron.

The Raiders (16-5 overall) have the third highest seeding points in Class AA trailing only Aberdeen Central and Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

Huron from the Eastern South Dakota Conference improved to 4-11 on the season with the win.

"I really liked our chemistry tonight," said Tiger head coach Britt Samson. "We really clicked."

Junior Molly Reimer served seven straight points in the third game as the Tigers overcame a 17-15 deficit to close out the match.

The Raiders got eight kills from junior Justine Blade and six from senior Kelly Herrmann.

"They are a very solid team," said Samson.

Stevens will play another nonconference game in Mitchell this afternoon at 1:45 MDT.