VOLGA – Sioux Valley topped Hamlin 25-19, 25-13, 25-15 in a Region 2A volleyball semifinal Thursday night, as the Cossacks advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

“Tonight is always a little scary because you’re facing a conference opponent that already knows you, they’ve already scouted you, they’ve already played you,” said Cossack coach Jill Vincent. “And then we’ve been sitting for about 11 days, so you never know what’s going to come crawling out of the locker room.

“It was nice to get that out of our system and be able to come out and play with some success.”

The Cossacks shook off somewhat of a slow start against the Chargers, pulling away down the stretch in Set 1 before cruising through Sets 2 and 3 in a match that lasted 59 minutes.

“We started off a little tentative and weren’t real confident in what we were doing – maybe taking an extra step or an extra second to think about our decisions,” Vincent added. “But once we calmed down and relaxed and played together, we were pretty cohesive.”

Nikole Ziegler led the way with 18 kills and 11 digs.

Lynsey Stevens totaled seven kills, three service aces and eight digs.

Rachel Miller guided the offense with 32 set assists while adding seven digs.

Miakken Vincent contributed five kills and 1 1/2 blocks (one solo). Bryn Tvedt tallied four aces, a solo block and eight digs. Bethany Rennich came up with seven digs.

Hamlin got six kills and a pair of aces from Faith Leiseth. Lexi Wadsworth chipped in with five kills, and Brynn Alfson contributed three kills and two blocks.

Taylor Koisti netted four aces. Ashtyn Abraham notched 11 digs and Logan Keszler tallied 10 set assists.

The Chargers finished the season with a 20-11 record.

Sioux Valley (24-4), which has won 20 of its past 21 matches, is the No. 6 seed and takes on No. 11 Pine Ridge (24-6) at a neutral site in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday.

“We need to keep communicating and forget about any plays that maybe we lost or something bad happened,” Vincent noted. “We need to move on a little quicker from that. And I think we can do that with some practice and some intense workouts.”

• Madison 3, Flandreau 0

MADISON – The host Lady Bulldogs swept Flandreau by the set scores of 25-23, 25-7 and 25-10 in a Region 2A volleyball semifinal Thursday.

Olivia Rud totaled 13 kills and a solo block in the win. Jessi Giles added six kills and Nicole Brown five.

Shania Schwebach dished out 23 set assists, came up with eight digs and netted three aces. Morgan Anderson had nine digs. Maddie Gerry chipped in with two kills and two solo blocks.

Makenzey Burggraff finished with seven kills and two blocks for the Fliers, who concluded the year with a 13-16 record. Mara Lunday notched four kills and six digs.

Jaycie Pulscher had 14 set assists and a block. Rylee Iott, who came up with a pair of blocks, and Anna Gassman added five digs apiece.

Madison (24-4), the No. 4 seed, faces No. 13 Dell Rapids in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday.