Lady Bulldogs triumph in conference openers

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Boyceville volleyball team had a busy week as they hosted Elmwood last Tuesday night for their Dunn-St. Croix conference opener, which they won in three sets. They then dominated in Glenwood City on Thursday for a 2-0 start to the season.

The Bulldogs also played in a tournament style setting last Saturday as they were in Osceola and played four, non-conference matches.

Elmwood Match

Once they found their groove after the first opening minutes, the Bulldogs ran over the Raiders with scores in three sets of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-7.

“The girls got off to a slow start as we were playing ok, but not really able to string anything together. Then near the end of the first game we started to find our rhythm and really kept it together for the rest of the match,” shared coach Taryn Score.

April Lake’s experience as a senior really shined through as she had 16 kills at the net out of the 26 sets she went after. She also had one service ace and six digs on the defense.

Also adding up points for the Bulldogs was Abbey Bird with eight kills and one ace, Kennedy Hellmann had six kills and one ace, Madsyn Riek had three kills, McKenzie Schultz and Alexa Peterson each had two kills and one ace, Jenna Beyrer had two aces and Brittany Tetzlaff had an ace as well.

3-0 in GC

The Bulldogs played an all around good match against the Hilltoppers with strong attacks, hard blocks, smart reads and well placed serves. This combination led to their three-set victory of 25-16, 25-10 and 25-6.

In the last set it was Peterson who got the pat on the back for aided in the victory as she went on a 11-point serve run until she hit the ball out of bounds on the 12th serve.

It was also the effort of Lake on the court that made a big difference as she had 12 kills on 19 attempts. She was a powerhouse that night with an additional two solo blocks, two assisted blocks and 12 service points.

Hellmann also chalked up a good deal of points with nine kills and a solo block. Bird followed with seven kills and 15 points on serves. Riek put down five kills on 12 sets and Schultz had two kills as well.

“I was happy that the girls were able to step up their level regardless of what was happening on the other side of the net. They were focused, worked together and celebrated together. They understand in order for that kill to happen, first comes a great pass and set,” said Score.

Saturday Action

It was a long day for the Lady Bulldogs this past Saturday in Osceola as seven teams participated in the invitational and they played against four of them.

The Bulldogs finished 2-2 on the day with their first loss at the hands of Osceola in a 25-11 and 25-23 final. Then it was their last match of the day against Clayton that chalked up their second loss with final scores of 25-14 and 25-16.

On the flip side, the Bulldogs ended on top against St. Croix Falls with a nail-biter of a first match as the final was 27-25. The second set went smoother with Boyceville winning 25-12.

The ladies also won against Cumberland in two sets with final scores of 25-15 and 25-12.

In terms of scoring against those four other teams, it was Lake again who was the powerhouse for the Bulldogs with 27 total kills as well as three service aces.

Hellmann was next in line for scoring that day with 15 kills and five aces. Bird and Riek each had 11 kills themselves as well as two aces from Abbey. Schultz had two kills and three aces and Peterson had one kill and one ace.

The Bulldogs played Tuesday night (Sept. 24) at home against Mondovi and they will be on the road this Thursday (Sept. 26) to play Pepin. They will be back at home next Tuesday (Oct. 1) for a match against Plum City.