RAPID CITY-The Rapid City Stevens Raiders kept their undefeated home record intact, earning a pair victories in the West River Greater Dakota Conference volleyball tournament at Carold Heier Gymnasium on Saturday.
The Raiders opened Saturday with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-23 win over Sioux Falls Washington in the opening match, before following with a 22-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-21 win over Sioux Falls Lincoln in their second match.
"One thing we did nice today that we didn't do last night was that our hitting percentage was good," said Stevens head coach Josh Lien. "We got our right side hitters involved. Margaret McCloud and Amanda Quinn were both offensive weapons today, and we also blocked extremely well."
Against Lincoln, senior outside hitter Kelly Hermann led the Raiders offensively with 15 kills while Sarah Jundt contributed nine kills. Elaine Balsley's setting was a key in the Raiders attack as she recorded 21 assists. Nikki Gleich led Stevens defensively with 23 digs.
"Anytime you can sneak a win over a Sioux Falls school in three games it is helpful," said Lien. "It saved the girls' legs, and that almost never happens, so we felt really good about the first win."
Serving was the Raiders strength in the opener against Washington. Rapid City had 10 aces as a team and were led by Stacie Brinker, who had four aces. Brinker also contributed 12 assists in the win. Hermann was again the offensive leader with eight kills while Margaret McCloud had six.
"Our serving was phenomenal today. Every zone I chose to serve to the girls were hitting perfectly," Lien said. "That gets the other teams offenses out of their system and gives us an advantage defensively. I credit most of our success today on our accurate serving."
Rapid City Stevens is now assured of a second-place finish in the GDC with a 10-3 conference record. The Raiders will host Sturgis on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
In other tournament action, Sioux Falls Lincoln downed Spearfish 25-11, 25-17, 25-10. Lincoln was led in attack by Rachel Nemmers who had 12 kills and Kersten Bork with 19 assists.
Both Sioux Falls Lincoln and Washington finished the West River trip at 2-2. Washington also topped Spearfish in the first game of the day. Spearfish was 0-4 in the weekend tournament and will face Rapid City Central Monday night.
