’Cats bury ’Diggers in four sets

By: 
Ron Burtz

Despite losing power hitter Kellyn Kortemeyer in the first set, the Custer girls volleyball team pulled out a four set victory over Lead-Deadwood in the final game of the regular season last Tuesday night in Lead. Head coach Jill Hohn said the six-foot-three senior got injured about half-way through the first set, but not before racking up four kills in the second matchup of the season with the Golddiggers.
Hohn declined to discuss the nature of Kortemeyer’s injury but said she was out for the game and would miss Tuesday’s first-round playoff game as well.
“That threw us off a little bit,” said Hohn of Kortemeyer’s injury. “We had to go with a rotation they hadn’t worked on. They really did a nice job on something we’ve never worked on before.”
“The girls did a nice job with a one setter rotation with Josey (Wahlstrom) as our setter,” Hohn said. “She did a great job adjusting to that.”
Despite the turmoil, the Wildcats went on to win the first set by a score of 25-21 and easily won set two, 25-18.
Continuing to tweak the rotation, the ’Cats ran into some trouble in the third and wound up losing that one 25-21.
“We were still trying to get the flow to work,” explained Hohn.  
They got the flow to go in the final and deciding set, however, and wound up with a 25-21 win.
“We really were able to get our hitting game going,” commented Hohn.
Ally Cass made eight kills and Taylor Neugebauer slammed five.
“Bailey Cass really came up and helped us in that middle position with six kills,” the coach said.
“Our serving percentage was really nice,” noted Hohn. “Josey served 15 out of 16 serves. That definitely helped.”
Wahlstrom also had 13 assists, Shauna Zacher had seven digs and Ally Cass dug up 10 and had four ace serves.
The Wildcats traveled to Belle Fourche to take on the Broncs in the first round of the Region 8A playoffs on Tuesday.
Hohn said the ’Cats had their work cut out for them in the match.
“In our region, last time I checked the standings, Rapid City Christian was No. 6 in the state, Hill City was No. 7 and Belle Fourche is No. 8 in the state,” said Hohn. “So we have a really, really good region so we know Belle’s tough and they’ve really had a great last part of their season.”
Hohn said the Broncs have good blockers and hitters and a great deal of height to their advantage.

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