Cossacks advance to SoDak 16

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VOLGA – Sioux Valley advanced to the Class A SoDak 16 after sweeping Florence/Henry in dominating fashion.

The Cossacks got out to a fast start as they won the first set 25-7. Head coach Jill Vincent said they used that momentum to propel them to win the second and third sets 25-12 and 25-19, respectively.

“I think it gave us a lot of energy when we had that first spurt and then it kind of carried on into the next two sets,” Vincent said.

Rylan Willis and Miakken Vincent led Sioux Valley once again. Willis had 17 kills and 14 digs and Vincent had nine kills and 12 digs.

“[Rylan and Maikken] are huge,” Vincent said. “When they’re hitting they can put it where the other team isn’t. They can tool the block and just adjust to a lot of different things. Then when they’re in the back row they’re always digging the ball and making those good passes so that the other one can go to work in the front row. They really complement each other well.”

Haydyn Hauge led the Cossacks with 32 assists and also had six digs. Rachel Cotton had 11 digs and six aces. Julia Steffenson had 10 digs. Perri Liedtke finished with five kills and Reagan Johnson had four. 

Vincent said on Tuesday after Sioux Valley swept Flandreau Indian School that her team needed to have good serve receive and pass the ball well.

“For the most part we did really well on serve receive. We’re really confident in what we were doing, so I think that helped us out tonight,” Vincent said.

Caylin Kelly led the Falcons with nine digs and three kills. CaLeigh Lane had eight digs and two kills. Macey Lane, Haley Hivacek and Trinity Watson all had three kills as well.

Sioux Valley (15-19) is the No. 16 seed in the SoDak 16 and will face No. 1 Miller, which is 31-2, on Tuesday. The site has yet to be determined.

“We’ll probably be a pretty big underdog in whatever match we end up with. But to get to the make it into the Sweet 16, now that you have this reseeding factor is a pretty big deal. We missed out on it last year, so this year I think it’s really great for our seniors who have been a part of two state tournaments already and now they’re back in another one,” Vincent said.

 Hamiln 3, Flandreau 1

HAMLIN – The Chargers were the other team out of the Region 2A to advance to the SoDak 16. They beat the Fliers in four sets 23-25, 25-17, 25-12, 25-17.

Ashtyn Abraham had 30 digs and 10 kills for Hamlin (18-9). Ally Abraham had 10 kills and Taylor Koisti had 31 digs. Logan Keszler had 20 assists and Grace Everson had 14. Zoey Ruutsalainen had four aces.

Shalyn Peters had 19 digs and 15 assists for Flandreau (6-22). Hannah Parsley had 15 digs, 14 kills and two blocks. Shalyn Peters had 15 assists and Madison Kontz had 17 digs. Macy Kneebone had nine assists.