Spirit Lake volleyball was unable to put the finishing touches on a Lakes Conference win Tuesday at LeMars, taking a match loss in five sets. The Indians took the first two games, 25-19, 25-19 and seemed on their way to the victory. However, the Bulldogs rallied with impressive set wins of 25-19, 25-11, and 15-6 in the decisive fifth set. Kendra Stokke was tops in kills with thirteen. Whitney Berkland had 25 assists, 14 digs, and three aces. Spirit Lake now sits at 2-2 in league play and 13-6 overall.
The rest of the Lakes Conference had Estherville Lincoln Central improve to 2-2 in league play with a sweep of Emmetsburg, 25-21, 25-16, and 25-22. The E-Hawks have now lost 21 straight conference matches. And top-rated Western Christian pounded on Storm Lake, 25-9, 25-8, and 25-8. The Wolfpack is perfect through 23 matches this season.
Graettinger-Terril lost it’s third Cornbelt Conference game, this time a four-set loss at home to West Bend-Mallard, 25-15, 25-23, 25-11, and 25-22. Senior Nikki Brown earned a dozen kills, to go along with 15 digs. Hailley Nelson tallied 17 assists. The Knights are now 1-3 in league play.
Elsewhere in the Cornbelt, Ruthven-Ayrshire notched not only it’s first conference win, but also it’s first match victory of the season, defeating Corwith-Wesley-Luverne in a sweep, 25-15, 25-16, and 25-15. Also, North Sentral Kossuth/Armstrong-Ringsted topped Ventura in three sets, 26-24, .25-15, and 25-8.
Over in the Siouxland, it was a MOC-Floyd Valley pulling off the upset over eighth-ranked Sheldon in five sets, 21-25, 29-27, 25-19, 21-25, and 15-7. West Lyon took down Sibley-Ocheyedan in four games, 25-16, 25-18, 24-26, and 25-18. And fourth-ranked Boyden-Hull handily swept Central Lyon, 25-16, 25-10, and 25-20.
Akron-Westfield up-ended South O’Brien in a War Eagle Conference match, 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 26-24.
North of the border, Martin County West defeated Nicollet in a sweep, 25-21, 25-22, and 25-20. Fairmont fell in a three-setter to New Ulm, 26-24, 25-16, and 25-13, and Round-Lake Brewster was handed a loss in three sets by Southwest Star Concept, 25-12, 25-12, and 25-18.
