RAPID CITY - Pierre used a huge defensive stop to rally from a first-game loss at the hands of Watertown in a win, 16-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-22, in the first round of the Class AA volleyball tournament at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Thursday.

The Lady Govs were trailing early in the second game when setter Amanda Stout tracked down a deflected shot way off the floor, which turned into a point for Pierre and shifted momentum away from the Arrows.

"I think they got a lot of confidence off of that," Pierre head coach Kacy Kienholz said. "Being able to play a ball back like that, keep the game going and score a point off of it was huge. That tells you a little bit about our setter and what she brings to the team."

The Lady Govs move into the semifinals where they will face Aberdeen Central tonight at 6 p.m. The Arrows head into the consolation bracket where they will play Rapid City Central at 10 a.m.

SIOUX FALLS ROOSEVELT 3, SIOUX FALLS WASHINGTON 1: Sioux Falls Roosevelt rallied back to win the third game Thursday night after splitting the first two with Sioux Falls Washington to grab a spot in the Class AA semifinals tonight at 8 p.m. versus Rapid City Stevens.

The Rough Riders had three players in double figure kills - Breanna Stewart (13), Heather Goehring (12) and Steph Koeze (10) - to better Washington for the third time this season - 27-25, 21-25, 25-23

25-15.

"It's always tough to play a team for the third time," Roosevelt head coach Holly Lynch said. "We knew it was going to be tough because the first two times we played Washington this year, both those games were fights. You just never really know how you're going to react to playing a team the third time."

Washington will play another familiar foe today as it takes on Sioux Falls Lincoln in the consolation round at noon.

Roosevelt will be playing Stevens for the third time this season after having knocked off the Raiders twice already this season.

Class A

Wagner 3, Winner O: Top-seed Wagner used balanced scoring from the strong front line to take a 25-19, 25-23,

25-20 victory over Winner in Thursday's opening round of the state Class A high school volleyball tournament at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

After a closely fought second set, the Red Raiders overcame a 12-7 deficit in the third game before pulling away and sealing the match win.

"We've been focusing on pressure situations in practice, so the girls feel confident if we do get down by four, five or six points, the girls are able to pull ourselves together and come out on top. We all know volleyball is such a game of momentum, we feel if you can teach your kids to get a shift,

Kelsey Krcil (10 kills, 10 digs), and Jilanne Doom (nine kills, 10 digs) led Wagner, 32-1. Serena Soukup and Kami Hoeke each added eight kills, and Devon Brekke had seven kills for Wagner.

The Red Raiders will play defending A champion Sioux Falls Christian in today's championship semifinals at 6 p.m.

Winner will play St. Thomas More in the consolation-round semifinals at

10 a.m. Saturday. The Lady Warriors were led by Alix Driscoll and Mica Haley with six kills each. Kelli Norrid led Winner (19-11) defensively with 10 digs and also served five aces.

MILLER AREA 3, MILBANK 0: The Miller Area Rustlers shrugged off first-game nerves to deny Milbank a fifth-straight trip to the championship round semifinals at the state Class A girls volleyball tournament Thursday night, 22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-22.

Heading into the match, Miller Area was seeking its first championship semifinal berth in five tries since finishing second in 2000.

"They have a lot tournament experience and we've been here several times in the last few years. I didn't figure either of us would come in nervous since we've been here before, so I just figured it would be down-and-dirty play," said Miller Area coach Linda DeBoer.

Marisa Blackwell led the Rustlers, the 2004 and 2006 state champions, with 17 kills, four ace serves and five blocks. Kate Lingscheit added 11 kills and four blocks. Meredith Schroeder also had four blocks.

With double-figure digs for the Lady Rustlers were Chelsea Schlecter with 13, Emily Lammers with 11, and Lacey Beckett with 10. Beckett added 24 assists.

Milbank (21-6 overall) takes on Sisseton in the consolation semifinals Friday at noon. Miller (26-5) will play Harrisburg in the championship semifinals at about 8 p.m. tonight.

Harrisburg 3, Sisseton 0: After dominating the first set, Harrisburg had to battle from behind in the final two games to gain a sweep over Sisseton and advance to the championship semifinal round of the state Class A girls volleyball tournament at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

The second-seed Tigers won 25-9, 25-16, 25-15 over seventh-seed Sisseton.

"Because we hadn't seen them before, we knew what their strengths and weaknesses were after warm-ups and the first game," Costain said. "Watching them in warm-ups and using a single-block was big-time to our advantage."

Harrisburg was led by Lindsey Johnson's 15 kills. Shelby Baum added six ace serves and four solo blocks. Allison Vos had 17 digs and 13 kills for the Tigers.

Harrisburg, 27-2 meets Miller Area in the championship semifinal round Friday at about 8 p.m. Sisseton plays Milbank in the consolation semifinals Saturday at about noon.

The losers of the consolation semifinals between Winner -St. Thomas More and Milbank-Sisseton meet for seventh-place at 4 p.m. Friday. The winners advance to the consolation championship Saturday at 9 a.m.