Bulldogs end conference season on sour note

COLFAX — It wasn’t exactly how the Boyceville volleyball team wanted to end conference play as they lost in three sets by scores of 26-24, 25-22 and 25-22 at Colfax last Tuesday.

The Bulldogs were 4-2 in the conference standings and had a chance to move into second place with a win over the Vikings, but instead ended up in third place with the loss.

Set number one was knotted five times but the Bulldogs fell behind 13-7 before Emma Lorenz bumped a point over the net and April Lake put a kill down for Boyceville. Colfax extended their lead to 23-17 but the Dogs had a wake up call as they went on a three point run with Kysa Franseen, Lake and Lorenz all scoring at the net. Colfax moved to set point at 24-20, but again Boyceville fought back with Alexa Peterson at the serving line. Lake slammed  the ball down for a point, Lorenz tipped it over for another and a pair of Colfax errors knotted things up at 24-24. After a long rally in which the Bulldogs made a big save while two players were out of bounds, the Vikings ended up winning that point and the next one giving them the first set.

Lake served up three points with an ace to allow Boyceville to take an 8-5 lead in the second set and Abby Bird came up with a pair of aces to increase their lead at 13-9 but the game became a nailbiter as the score was tied 16-16, 17-17, 18-18 and 19-19 before the Vikings moved ahead 23-19. Bird served up another un-returnable ball and with a missed shot by Colfax, Boyceville was back to within a point down 23-22. But on a kill attempt, they couldn’t get the ball through the Colfax blockers and they failed to return the final serve, thus finding themselves down two sets to none.

With their backs to the wall, the Bulldogs came out barking as they pulled out to a 10-4 lead in the third set with Lorenz serving up several points and Bird putting a couple of kills to the floor, but again the Vikings came back and tied things up at 10-10. Lake and Bird scored at the net to make it 12-12 and Franseen put a kill down to get to 14-14 but Boyceville couldn’t get on any long runs and they stayed a point or two behind the rest of the game. They got to within a point again, down 23-22 but an error on their part and a final tip shot gave the Vikings the match.

“It’s always a battle against Colfax, they are a strong team. Our girls did play well, but they just didn’t have quite enough to finish the game,” said coach Taryn Score.

Lorenz led the team in attack attempts with 38 and Franseen led in actual attacks with ten. Coach Score said that Bird and Lake also swung very hard. Bird had some nicely placed tips and Lake had a great game blocking as well.

“Kennedy Hellmann stepped up tonight taking some balls she had not done in the past. She was also very vocal on the court, keeping herself and her teammates engaged in the play,” shared Score.

The Bulldogs played their first round of Regionals on Tuesday at home against the Spring Valley Cardinals.