Volleyball makes comeback for LNI title

Coming off a sluggish couple of weeks for the Custer Wildcat volleyball team, it got their groove back just in time for at the Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI) volleyball tournament this past weekend. The team powered its way through each match to take the championship as it defeated the Bennett County Warriors in the first- place match.
On Friday of the two-day tournament, the ’Cats played its first matches with St. Stephens, Wyo., Lodge Grass, Mont., and St. Francis.
In the match with Lodge Grass, the team won 25-17, 25-11. Against St. Stephens the team won 25-11, 25-10. Finally against St. Francis, the Wildcats beat them 25-7, 25-9.
“The girls came out really really strong that first day of LNI. They just did everything we talked about putting together. They had such a good team dynamic and positive attitude,” said head coach Jill Hohn.  
With Friday’s perfect record, the team continued to dominate going into Saturday’s matches, keeping that same energy as the day before.
In it’s match with Tiospa Zina, the team came away with yet another win 25-22, 25-20.
“Day two, we started out a little slow against Tiospa Zina, but after we got past that game, they just went to another level,” said Hohn.  
Starting with the match against Santee, Neb., the team began to kick it into high gear and won quite handily with a final score at 25-12, 25-3.
The Wildcats had little trouble defeating Lakota Tech too, coming away with yet another win (25-13, 25-15).
“The first step was getting past Lakota Tech and they just played so well. I think they realized, ‘Oh wow, this might actually happen. I think we can do it,’” said Hohn.
In that match, Jordyn Larsen had 13 kills and 10 digs; Lyncoln Robb had six kills, as did Keira Nelson;  Ava Hohn had two kills; Kylee Ellerton had five digs and Kylie Pulscher contributed 25 assists and seven digs.
Then, the team faced another tight matchup when it faced defending 2023 LNI champs, White River.
“We had been watching them throughout the weekend and we knew that we would be able to compete very well with them,” said Hohn, and that they did, beating White River 25-20, 25-16.
In that match, Larsen had 12 kills and 10 digs, Robb had four kills, Taylor Bland had three kills, Kayda Hanis had three digs, Kylee Ellerton had 13 digs and Kylee Pulscher had 23 assists,  and eight digs.
With that win, it became time to head into the championship match with the Bennett County warriors.
“By the time we got through Lakota Tech and White River, they were just so pumped and ready to get on the court for that championship game,” said Hohn.
In the championship match, they faced a challenge battling into two closely matched sets, but eventually came away with the win. The final score stood 25-19, 25-20.
Larsen contributed 12 kills and nine digs, Robb had six kills, Ellerton had 11 digs, Hanis had four digs and Pulscher had  25 assists and four digs.
“I was so excited to see them dominate, get that confidence back and have so much fun on the court,” said Hohn.
In addition to the trophy, the team earned several other honors for a few of its players. Hannis was named best defensive specialist, Pulscher was named to the all-tournament team and Larsen was given the title of tournament MVP.
“It was such a wonderful way to top off what we did in that championship game. Being able to get our girls recognized for all the work they put in this season, we were just over the moon about that. It was good to see that other teams recognized their talent,” said Hohn.
Leading up to their winning run at LNI, the team had a confidence boost in their two prior games with the Lead-Deadwood Golddiggers and the Belle Fourche Broncs.
On Thursday, the Wildcats played Lead-Deadwood, and won in three sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-17), although Hohn said they didn’t play their best as the team was battling illness.
“We were glad to get it done in three sets so we could go home and get rested before LNI,” said Hohn,
In their match with Belle Fourche Tuesday, they battled it out in four sets, with the Wildcats eventually coming out on top (25-13, 25-18, 16-25, 25-20). It was in that match the team began working on the new rotation that they carried through the rest of the week and into LNI.
“It took a little while to get some of those kinks out and get a flow down on the court,” said Hohn. But once they did, she said, the team seemed to find a recipe for success.
“I think its working really well for us, and is a good way to maximize the strengths we have on the court,” said Hohn.
Yesterday the team played a home match with Hot Springs, who they beat previously this season. Hohn said it will be important to tune out the noise from the rivaling crowds.
“We know that we can go in there and come away with a win. We just need to make sure that we’re focused and not get caught up in any of the side talk,” said Hohn.
Then on Thursday, the team heads to Wall.
“I think it should be a good matchup. They always have good hitters and a solid team,” said Hohn.