SIOUX FALLS – Elkton-Lake Benton achieved its goal of winning in the quarterfinals of the Class A State Volleyball Touranment by sweeping Belle Fourche in three sets at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on Thursday night.
When Elkton-Lake Benton lost to Garretson in last year’s state tournament, they set a pair of goals. First, the Lady Elks wanted to win out over the rest of the tournament. Second, they wanted to make sure they didn’t find themselves in the same position this year.
“I knew that would be one big thing that they wanted to do after that first-round loss last year,” ELB head coach Melissa Erickson said. “We went in the locker room and we said that when we walked out, it was done. It’s a new day…and we made sure that it was something we weren’t going to repeat.”
The Broncs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but their advantage didn’t last long. ELB answered by taking the lead at 10-9 and held on for a 25-20 win in the first set. The Lady Elks were in a bigger hole after Belle Fourche started the second set with a 7-2 run, but ELB responded with a 6-1 run to tie it at 8-8 and a 15-6 overall run to take a 17-13 lead.
“I think our experience there helped,” Erickson said of the comeback. “Being here last year, just knowing that we competed against some really good teams, we were going to have to go point-for-point [with them]. … They’re a good team, so we knew at one point we would make a bigger gap between the points and the girls just did that.”
With the Lady Elks in control, they earned their second comeback victory of the night by a score of 25-17 and were one set away from achieving their goal of playing in the championship bracket.
“The girls just have grit,” Erickson said. “They’re not going to give up. They want it so bad and they trust in their training, themselves and their teammates.”
With a 25-22 win in the third set, the Lady Elks were on their way, completing the sweep and advancing to the Class A Semifinals.
“That was on their minds all season long,” Erickson said of the win. “Making sure we wouldn’t make the same mistakes and just being focused in knowing how hard we need to go in practice in order to complete at a high level.”
Erickson also praised the efforts of Andrea Renkly, who finished the night with 11 kills and six digs on the night.
“She’s so smart with the ball,” Erickson said. “She’s able to put it in all the right spots at different times.”
Rachael Krog was another player that stood out, posting eight kills with 13 digs and a block in the victory.
“She was a slow starter but in that second and third set she finally got comfortable,” Erickson said. “She settled down and just played her game.”
Erickson also acknowledged her middle hitters, who came up with 10 blocks on the night including three each from Tevan Erickson and Kylie Ramlo. Erickson also had a team-high 29 assists and 11 digs. Kayla Goertz had eight digs and a pair of aces, Ramlo had seven digs and Kailyn Drietz had five digs and three kills.
Now that the Elks have accomplished their first goal, they turn their attention to their second-seeded Miller, who survived a five-set scare from Platte-Geddes. While the Rustlers escaped with a victory over the seventh-seeded Black Panthers, the Lady Elks are ready for the challenge.
“I think they’re very similar to us,” Erickson said. “I think it’s going to be a very competitive game.
