Sports

Knights glide past Stars in region final

By Tyler Ohmann

11/13/2012

For the third straight year and the second straight postseason tournament of the season the Bottineau Stars fought past tough opponents to come up with a runner-up finish.

In 2010 and 2011 the Stars lost to the Kenmare Honkers in the Region 6 title game, 2012 was a different story.

Entering as the second seed after being upended by Velva in the District 11 tournament, the Stars were able to get 3-1 victories over both Bishop Ryan and Kenmare.

The wins set up a title shot against Our Reedeemer’s Christian School (ORCS) Thursday night in the Minot Auditorium.

There the Stars were out matched by the ORCS and fell in three straight sets to the Knights.

“We just didn’t pass the ball very well,” said Stars head coach Steve Dunrud. “We weren’t able to get it to our setter, so that we could get our offense going, and that was really the story of the night.”

Our Redeemers swept the Stars with 25-17, 25-13 and 25-15 wins, riding the arm of senior Ashley Koppinger, who had 16 kills, five digs and three assists.

“Our Redeemers had a lot to do with that, but some of it was our mistakes,” Dunrud said. “They were really taking it to us too, so we have to give them a lot of credit.”

Senior Katryna Hahn led the Stars in the loss with six kills and two blocks. Juniors Bailey Neubauer (15 set-asssists) and Danielle McDonald (seven digs) also led stat categories for Bottineau.

The loss concluded the Stars season with a record of 24-14, while the Knights move on to the state tournament.

In order to get to that region final, however, the Stars played strong volleyball avenging not only the ‘10 and ‘11 finals losses to against the Honkers, but a loss to the Honkers earlier in the season as well.

The Stars came out hot in last Tuesday’s region semifinal against Kenmare, using momentum to push past the Honkers 25-18 in set one.

Bottineau then hit a speed bump, falling in game two 25-22. However, the Stars rallied back, using the abilities of Hahn to get a 25-21 win in set three, and then close out the Honkers with a back-and-forth 28-26 win in set four.

“When we played Kenmare the girls really did play awesome,” Dunrud said. “We really did pass the ball well in that game, and all aspects of the game were really good that night.”

Hahn was spectacular in the match garnering a match-best 20 kills and also providing three ace serves.

Also solid for the Stars were junior Rachael Fix (24 digs) and Neubauer (44 set-assists). Two other Bottineau players were in double-digit kills, McDonald (12, 14 digs) and Stephanie Brenden (10).

The Stars also beat Bishop Ryan in round one of the tournament, using a strong performance from the sophomore Brenden, who had a team-high 17 kills in the 3-1 win.

Bottineau again came out on top in sets one, three and four, getting 25-22 wins in set one and three and a 25-23 win to close out the match in set four. They dropped set two 25-23.

“The girls worked really hard, and we had some really good performances in the tournament,” Dunrud said. “The first night Stephanie Brenden really stepped up, and that was key. Tuesday night you could name a lot of girls that had a good night for us.”

Hahn had another strong performance in the match as well, getting 15 kills and a team-best 11 digs and three blocks.

“Katryna Hahn really had a good tournament to finish off her senior year on a good note,” Dunrud said.

Hahn, along with McDonald were named to the All-Region 6 team following Thursday’s match.
Dunrud was pretty happy with the tournament, and thinks that second place isn’t a bad place to finish, considering the quality of teams in the tournament.

“Taking second in the region that is pretty special,” Dunrud said. “There are a lot of teams that would have liked to say they took second in the region. You always have higher goals, but when they look back on it, they’ll be pretty happy how the tournament went for us I think.”

Reflecting on the season, which was pretty turbulent for the Stars, Dunrud thinks that despite having a new coach and a new system, the Stars stepped up when they needed to for the most part.

“I’m sure it was different for the girls, with having someone new in charge,” Dunrud said. “We were really inconsistent and we wish we could have been more consistent throughout the year, but boy when we played well, we were really a good team, and showed we could play with anybody.”

“It was a very enjoyable year, and I’m glad the girls were able to play all three nights at the regional, that’s pretty nice,” Dunrud added.

Another bonus for the Stars is that they lose only one starter in senior Katryna Hahn. Outside hitters McDonald and Courtney Gallagher, middle hitter Brenden and juniors Rachael Fix, Bailey Neubauer and Karlee McCloud return next season with a lot of game time under their belts.

“Definitely experience is going to be a big plus, you can’t substitute that with anything,” Dunrud said. “There has always been talent, and the girls that come back, I hope they put some time in and really set their goals high, and work at achieving them.”

Maybe the Stars can make the fourth time a charm in 2013.

Notes:

•  Unofficially Hahn, Neubauer and Rachael Fix all broke Bottineau High School season records with their performances during the season. Hahn broke the single season kills record of 379, held by Kelsey Aide, by slamming home 384 kills during the season in 111 games. Nebuauer broke the single season set-assists record of 816 set last season by Ashleigh Aufforth by getting 866 set-assists. Fix broke the season serving percentage record of 97.8 percent set by Aide as well, by successfully hitting 244-of-248 or 98.3 percent of her serves.
•  Other stat leaders for the Stars were McDonald with 281 digs (she also had 247 kills and 61 aces), Nebuauer with 89 aces and Hahn with 70 blocks.