Bulldogs continue winning streak with victories over Pepin and Plum City

By Kelsie Hoitomt

The Lady Bulldogs had two matches this past week with a home contest against the Pepin Lakers on Tuesday and then one on Thursday in Plum City against the Blue Devils.

Pepin

Their match at home was a thrill for the spectators and a nail-biter as well. The Bulldogs trailed 25-19 in the first set and then bounced back to win 25-18 and 25-15 in the next two.

If the girls won the fourth set the match would be over, however if they lost, it would be a tie and the fifth set would need to be played.

The excitement and anguish came in that fourth set as fans watched the Bulldogs trail 12-20 after errors and then mistakes on blocks looked to cost them the game.

The three previous sets were a battle and in the hot gymnasium the girls looked to be tiring with sweaty red faces.

Despite being down by eight points, setter Lexi Peterson kept her team’s spirits up with encouraging words and soon they were down by two with the score at 20-22.

The Bulldogs used control and stopped themselves from touching the ball, which allowed them to take a lead after attacks from Pepin continuously landed out of bounds.

With the score at 24-22, the ball was passed up to Peterson and she planted herself for the set as if to send it towards Abbey Bird and instead she tipped the ball over the net for the final point and the victory.

Bird was unstoppable with her attacks from the left corner of the net, which landed her a total of 13 kills. She also finished with ten digs and one service ace.

Cassie Malean also had ten digs and she was incredibly strong from the corner as well and that accounted for six kills on the night.

Erica Sempf and Madysn Riek each had three kills; Riek also had a service ace during one of her long serving runs.

On the rest of the team, Peterson finished with one kill, two aces and nine digs. McKenzie Schultz had nine digs, Jenna Beyrer had five digs and Marki Lagerstrom had one ace and three digs.

Plum City

The Bulldogs continued their reign Thursday night with a three-set victory over Plum City.

The first set was the closest with the score at 25-20, but then the Bulldogs went on to win by seven points in the final two with the finish at 25-18 for both.

Next on the schedule was a match at home on Tuesday, September 30 against St. Croix Central and then Thursday (Oct. 2) they are in Spring Valley with both starting at 7:00 p.m.