Raiders finish off NR in 4 sets

NEW RIEGEL - Communication and ball control.These two elements of the game of volleyball are what helps teams win.Lakota defeated New Riegel on the road Thursday in a four set Sandusky Bay Conference River Division matchup, 25-18, 25-20, 10-25, 25-17."I think we were a little tired from last night's five-set match against Ottawa Hills," Raiders coach Maddison Kille said. "Sometimes our consistency level can vary."New Riegel (5-7, 3-6 SBC River) only had one set go its way, which was the third set when it shut down Lakota (6-9, 4-5 SBC River). The Blue Jackets took the lead early on in that set."I think that's the nature of all high school athletes right now," said NR coach Cindy Hoepf. "It's really hard to find a way to keep them up. It's also been part of our issue this year. This week has been rough for us as we have played below normal volleyball for us."NR took the lead in the third, and after a block from Lacey Schalk put the score 4-2, and her serve going out of bounds, it was 4-3. The Blue Jackets held the Raiders at three points for nine points, putting them into a 10-point hole.Lakota got the fourth point on a Stoudinger spike.NR went on another run of six points, before a Jurovcik spike was good. At that point, it was 18-5. Once NR hit four points though, Lakota put points 6-10 on before a bump from Lexi Lafountaine was good for the final point."We play some great volleyball," Hoepf said. "But then we have times like in the first and second set where we weren't there yet. We try to teach them that you do good things and it will happen."In the first set, the Raiders took the lead. But the Blue Jackets kept pace until the teams tied at seven overall. NR broke the tie and had a small run on a bunch of Lakota mistakes, including a bad connection from Queen Beard to a couple of hitters. But a couple of plays with Beard and a couple of plays with Karsyn Piper, and the teams were tied up at 14 each.After that, Lakota broke the tie, and kept putting the points on until Jurovcik hit the ball into the net, but it was a hole too big for NR to climb out of at 22-15. The Raiders finished off the set, on a Stoudinger spike that went over the fingertips of Lacey Schalk and Clara Schreiner.The second set, the teams were pretty even but after Stoudinger spiked the ball into open space, it broke the 6-6 stalemate. After that, the teams only tied one more time, which was towards the end of the match. Lakota kept digging the hole while NR slowly climbed out of it.When the score was 20-20, Beard had a kill that went to Claire Schalk that was unanswered, and Ruthann Baughman had a ball hit the net. Addison Theis had the same thing happen. A double hit call and Theis' return went into the net and put the Raiders in a 2-0 lead over the Blue Jackets.The fourth set, New Reigel started with the lead and kept Lakota at 1 point for the first six plays. NR went on a run, with the Raiders chasing the points.Until it hit 11-10. Baughman had a bump that landed near Beard, who responded back with a spike over. From there, NR and Lakota went back and forth on ball control until they tied at 14 each. Once that happened, Lakota took complete control and ran. While they stalled a couple of times at 20 with NR catching up, it was too little too late. The Blue Jackets couldn't get out of the eight-point hole they were in.Lakota was led by Beard with 15 kills and seven aces, while Stoudinger added 10 kills and Sophia Bomer ended with 39 assists and 16 digs.New Riegel's Karsyn Piper had 10 kills, while Addison Theis and Lacey Schalk each smashed eight kills, Ava Wensink tallied five aces and 25 digs and Lilly Schalk dished 22 assists.