Sports

Bearcats upend Bottineau in title game

By Tyler Ohmann

09/10/2013

The Bottineau Stars learned a lot of lessons in the first week of the season, but perhaps their most important came in their final of seven matches on the week.

That important lesson was not giving up. Bottineau was thumped 25-5 in the first set of the championship match in the Bottineau Early Bird Tournament against North Star.

After a loss like that, most teams would have given up, but not the Stars.

They came back strong and won the next set convincingly 25-16 to force a third tie-breaking set. Bottineau did fall in the final set 15-10, but that second set taught the team something about playing good competition.

“It was not only important to show everybody else, but to prove it to ourselves that we could do it,” said senior libero Rachael Fix. “We have a tendency to let our attitudes get in the way, and to come back that second game shows that we’re getting over that.”

Bottineau head coach Steve Dunrud was also impressed with the Stars’ handling after the first-set loss.

“We definitely didn’t think we would have gone three games after that first game,” Dunrud said. “It shows a lot, because a lot of teams would kind of give up in that situation.”

“We learned from what had happened, and I think that was big,” Dunrud continued. “The girls are smart players, they are smart girls and they learned what to do.”

In the match, which was Bottineau’s fifth of the day, nothing went right in that first set. Kill attempts were blocked, long rallies were lost and serves were mishit.

The second set was a totally different story as the Stars were able to get strong hits off of sets and force the Bearcats to tip the ball back for easy digs.

The opportunity to even be in that situation was a story in itself.
Bottineau, coming off a loss to Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood last Thursday, were faced with the Mavericks once again in the semifinals on Saturday.

Only this time the Stars played their game and earned a 2-0 victory.
The first set was close as the Stars narrowly edged the Mavs 25-23. Bottineau exerted their dominance to secure the revenge-filled win with a 25-17 score.

“I think it’s important, we knew we would have an opportunity to match up with them today and I think we did good,” Dunrud said. “They were missing one of their players that would have made a difference, but we played well and we would like to think that we would have won no matter what, because we played well.”

Senior hitters Danielle McDonald and Courtney Gallagher combined for 17 kills in the win. McDonald also had a team-high two aces. Fellow seniors Fix (seven digs) and Neubauer (20 assists) also played well in the contest.

Those seniors, along with senior Karlee McCloud will be pivotal not only in this season, but also in future seasons, as they now have to take on the role of teacher.

“We’ve been in their shoes and we had girls tell us things in the past,” Fix said. “To actually get to senior year, you kind of understand what they are talking about, and we want to teach the girls because they are the future of the program too.”

It’s just one of many lessons the Stars learned in the week. The first was dealing with a loss.

Last Thursday the Stars hosted the MLS Mavericks and took a 2-1 set lead with wins in set one (25-22) and set three (25-13). They appeared poised to close out the match.

However, the Mavericks rallied back and won 25-15 in set four to force a decisive fifth set. There the Mavericks made the plays to earn a 15-13 win and a match victory.

Although Bottineau would have liked to have won. They feel they improved as a team because of the match.

“In our pregame talk we said we wanted to be a better team,” Dunrud said. “Even though we lost, I talked to the team and we felt that we were better because of that five-game match.”

McDonald had a game-best 20 kills. Junior Stephanie Brenden had 13 kills, five aces and three blocks, while Neubauer dished out 36 assists and had four blocks.

Despite losing twice in the week, Dunrud said that the team is much better than it was on Tuesday, a home-opening three-set sweep over Des Lacs-Burlington.

“It was a long day, we played a lot matches and I think we are a way better team than we were even on Tuesday,” Dunrud said. “We are doing a lot things well. The only thing that was a little down at the end was our serving percentage.”

Tuesday’s match was a three-set sweep, but both sets one and two were close. Bottineau edged out a 25-22 win in set one, and a 25-23 win in set two, but set three was the only one that was a stout victory for the Stars.

Set three was a 25-13 win, which earned them the sweep and shook off some of the cobwebs of not playing a real match since last season.

McDonald and Gallagher had 15 kills between them and Fix finished with 14 digs. McCloud had six aces, which helped propel the Stars to a win.

And despite earning an opening-day win, and learning from a five-set loss on Thursday, it was Saturday ‘s grueling five-match tournament that really prepared the Stars for what they will face this season according to Dunrud.

“They were fun to watch, they hustled and I think we gained a lot from today,” Dunrud said.

In order to make it to the semi-final against MLS and then advance to the championship against North Star, Bottineau had to beat a few teams first.

That began with a two sweep victories in pool play over Wilton-Wing and Towner-Granville-Upham (TGU).

Bottineau opened the tournament against Wilton-Wing and won pretty easily 25-15 and 25-13.

The win was higlighted by a five-dig, two-ace performance from sophomore Shelby Grenier.

The Stars then went on to down TGU with ease in 25-11 and 25-14 fashion.

Neubauer led all servers with seven service aces to accentuate the Stars victory.

After a first round bye Bottineau then dispatched Velva in the second round to advance to the semis.

The Stars again had a pretty easy go of it, taking down the Aggies in straight sets 25-15 and 25-10.

Fix, who broke the BHS record for serve percentage last season, went a perfect 12-for-12 from the service line in the game and had a team-best eight digs.

After the tournament she said that Bottineau was almost right where they wanted to be.

“I feel like we came out played pretty good,” Fix said. “We would have liked to have won on Thursday and today, but we improved and that’s what we’re going for, but we are just starting to put everything together, whether it’s serve/receive or blocking or covering.”

Tournament leaders for the Stars included: Neubauer (83 assists, nine aces), Fix (44 digs), McDonald (33 kills) and Brenden (seven blocks).

The Stars, now 5-2 overall, play again at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Minot against Bishop Ryan. The match will be a big test for the Stars as the Lions are one of the favorites to come out of Region 6 this season.

Notes:

•  Season leaders for the Stars are: Neubauer (141 assists), McDonald (61 kills), Fix (73 digs, 100 serve percentage), Brenden (12 blocks, 15 aces).
•  Other players who had playing time this past week included Kennedy Olson and Skyler Patterson.