Coming off of a hard-fought five-set victory over Sacred Heart on Thursday, the Stephen-Argyle Storm looked to carry over that momentum against Badger-Greenbush-Middle River, but the Gators were just too strong as they came away with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-17) in a Section 8A Quarterfinal match played in “The Swamp” in Greenbush. “We knew it was going to be tough and I am proud of the girls for keeping in it,” said Storm Head Coach Karen Evans.
SET ONE –
Stephen-Argyle started the match with an ace from Macy Swanson, but BGMR came right back with a kill to tie the set at 1-1. BGMR added another point before the Storm’s Riley Mooney blasted a kill to tie the set at 2-2. Grace Carlson gave the Storm the lead back with a kill for a 3-2 lead. BGMR added to points to tie the set at 4-4. BGMR responded with four straight points before the Storm stopped the run and trailed 8-5. The Storm added another point with a kill from Evans only to have BGMR come up with another kill to take a 9-6 lead. Evans added another kill only to have the Gators answer with two kills for an 11-7 lead. “The girls were up and down tonight,” said Coach Evans. “We had a lot of energy early and then kind of faded.” The Storm had a couple of attacks go into the net and the Gators added a kill followed by a Storm attack error for a 15-9 deficit. The Storm had three points in a row including a big attack by Mooney to get within a 15-12 deficit. The teams exchanged points and BGMR led 17-15 and called a timeout. After the timeout, the teams continued to exchange points and the Gators led 20-18. Stephen-Argyle got within one point after an attack. By Josie Rivard, but the ensuing serve went into the net. BGMR followed with an ace and a few more points for a 23-19 forcing a Storm timeout. After the timeout, the Gator serve went out of bounds, they bounced back with a kill, only to serve out of bounds and they led 24-21. BGMR finished the set with a kill for a 25-21 victory in the first set. “We made some errors that we shouldn’t be making at this point in the season,” explained Coach Evans. “They are a good team and they took advantage of it.”
SET TWO
The second set was back-and-forth early on with ties at 1, 2, 3, and 4 before BGMR scored four points in a row with a block and back-to-back kills by Jade Reese for an 8-4 lead forcing a Stephen-Argyle timeout. BGMR added two more points to wrap up a 6-0 run for a 10-4 lead, but the Storm started to battle back and played even, but BGMR held on to a 14-7 lead. The Storm tried to mount a rally with kills from Josie Rivard and Riley Mooney, but the Gators wouldn’t allow a big run and led 18-10. “With rally point scoring every time the ball hits the floor someone is going to score a point so you have to be careful,” said Coach Evans. “Tonight we made a few too many mistakes.” The Gators Jade Reese continued to impress as she had another kill only to have the Storm answer with a kill of their own. The Gators had an attack error and the Gators were called in the net and all of a sudden Stephen-Argyle trailed 19-14. Reese had another kill, followed by a block for a 21-14 BGMR lead and cruised to a 25-15 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match. “We just seemed a step slow tonight,” added Coach Evans.
SET THREE
BGMR continued to show why they are one of the top teams in the section and state as they jumped out to an 4-1 lead. But Stephen-Argyle wasn’t going to go down without a fight as they scored the next two points before BGMR had two kills including one from Jade Reese for 6-3 lead. The Storm bounced back with three straight points before BGMR’s Reese had another kill followed by a Tessa Durand kill for an 8-6 lead. The Storm kept the back-and-forth game going and BGMR led 13-11. BGMR continued their stellar net play with Reese leading the way with a pair of kills and they led 17-12. BGMR continued to used what seemed to be their unlimited attackers to build a 22-13 lead forcing Stephen-Argyle to call a time out. BGMR scored two of the next three points to take a 24-14 lead and the Storm stayed alive with back-to-back kills from Riley Mooney, a kill from Rivard to get within a 24-17 deficit. BGMR won the match on a big kill from Hanson for a 25-17 victory to win the match 3-0. “The girls worked hard throughout tonight and that is what I wanted to see tonight,” added Coach Evans.
Stephen-Argyle ends the season with a 19-9 record. BGMR improves to 27-3 and will play in the Section 8A semi-finals on Monday at Thief River Falls High School.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Stephen-Argyle | 21 | 15 | 17 |
| BGMR | 25 | 25 | 25 |
For Stephen-Argyle
Kills– Riley Mooney- 11, Emma Evans- 5, Tessa Durand- 3
Blocks – Grace Carlson- 3, Josie Rivard- 3
Assists – Macy Haugen- 14, Regan Swanson- 9
Aces – Marey Kazmierczak- 1, Regan Swanson- 1
For Badger-Greenbush-Middle River
Kills– Jade Reese- 13, Riley Gust- 9, Kinsley Hanson- 8, Kenzie Dahl- 6
Blocks – Jade Reese- 4, Jacey Wojchowski- 2
Assists – Cassie Dahl- 38
Aces – Jade Reese- 2, Aulona Jasiqi- 1
