Century survives scare vs. West Fargo

FARGO — For the first time this season, Bismarck Century lost a set in a best-of-five match. And it wasn’t just one, but two.

How did the Patriots react, facing a 2-1 deficit to West Fargo here Thursday in the quarterfinals of the North Dakota Class A volleyball tournament?

“We panicked for a little bit,” standout senior hitter A.J. Jacobs said. “But we were playing for each other. We had to do it for each other.”

The Patriots rallied to defeat West Fargo 25-27, 25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 15-12 to advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal match against Fargo Shanley.

In the final two games, “we finally got our blocking going, and our defense stepped up and started reacting to the ball better,” Jacobs said.

Century broke away from an 8-7 deficit with five unanswered points to take a permanent lead in the fourth set, a run sparked by two kills and an ace block by Hannah Larson. The Patriots trailed only once, at 4-3, in the fifth set. But neither were they ever ahead by more than four. West Fargo was within 12-11 before Century closed on a 3-1 run, with Jacobs getting two kills, to pull out the fifth-set win.

“I don’t think we were (panicking) on the sideline,” Century co-coach Sarah Bohrer said. “We have athletic girls. We knew they could push through it.”

Fargo Shanley 3, Bismarck 0

The offense is a setter’s delight for Fargo Shanley senior Ashley Vetter.

The Deacons had five hitters with five or more kills, sparking Shanley to a 26-24, 25-17, 25-23 sweep of Bismarck High.

That balance is nothing new for Shanley. The Deacons entered the tournament with five hitters who had more than 170 kills.

“It’s really nice for a setter,” said Vetter, who had 35 assists. “All of our hitters can put it down. We’re lucky; everybody is about equal. We can go anywhere and they’re capable of putting shots down.”

On Thursday, the primary force was Kelsey Kanwischer. The senior had 12 kills. That she got a lot of attempts was by design.

“We look for where the blocking is,” Vetter said. “We mix things up and find open spots. And if somebody is having a good night, you keep feeding them. We were feeding Kelsey a little more today. It worked out well.”

Alex Sweeney and Alivia Fraase had seven kills each for the Deacons, with Fraase going over the 300 mark for the season. Bethany Sandy contributed six kills and Jessica Anderson five for the 28-7 Deacons, who play Bismarck Century in a 6 p.m. semifinal match Friday.

G.F.R.R. 3, Minot 0

Shelby Bommersbach’s job is to find the hot hand.

The Grand Forks Red River setter had a lot of options in that department on Thursday.

Bommersbach handed out 26 assists as the Roughriders swept Minot 25-16, 25-20, 25-10.

“We were on tonight, just about everybody,” Bommersbach said. “All our hitters do a good job. “There were a few hitting errors at the beginning. But after the first set, we got going.”

Fargo North 3, Dickinson 2

Kira Larson was sprawled on the court, in obvious pain. It wasn’t a good sign for the Fargo North volleyball team.

“Obviously, Kira is a huge part of our team,” Spartans coach Jerry Daily said. “That would have been a tough match to win without her. But she came back big, and she was hurting.”

Larson was a sparkplug in helping North rally to beat Dickinson 14-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-13, 15-9 in the quarterfinals of the North Dakota Class A state volleyball tournament Thursday.

Larson injured her left ankle when she stepped on a teammate’s foot late in the third set. She walked off the court with the Spartans trailing 17-15 and was back in after two points.

N.D. Class A state tournament

In Fargo

Thursday’s quarterfinals

BISMARCK CENTURY 25-25-20-25-15

WEST FARGO 27-20-25-17-12

Bismarck Century (kills-blocks-service aces) — Casey Reamann 1-0-0, Kelsey T. Glatt 15-2-3, Ashley Bohrer 3-1-0, Alexis Jacobs 23-1-2, Lexi Ely 3-1-1 (47 assists), Hannah Larson 12-4-0, Tyler Bulawa 1-0-0

West Fargo (kills-blocks-service aces) — Andrea Klug 0-0-1 (21 assists), Christina Bruenjes 7-4-0, Hannah Schnepf 0-0-2, Rachel Hummel 11-2-0, Courtney Suppa 16-2-0, Amanda Levin 6-0-0, Rachelle Albert 2-1-1, Shelby Gustafson 0-1-0, Allison Barta 10-2-1, Hayley Miller 0-0-0 (15 assists).

FARGO SHANLEY 26-25-25

BISMARCK 24-17-23

Fargo Shanley (kills-blocks-service aces) — Alivia Fraase 7-1-0, Haley Brenner 1-0-0, Kelsey Kanwischer 12-1-0, Jessica Anderson 5-0-1, Bethany Sandy 6-1-2, Alex Sweeney 7-0-1, Ashley Vetter 2-0-0 (35 assists).

Bismarck (kills-blocks-service aces) — Alison Fisher 0-1-0, Ashlee Hilzendeger 7-0-0, Emily Schauer 0-0-1, Rachel Eckroth 0-0-2, Alek Haugen 7-1-0, McKenzie Kiefer 1-0-0 (25 assists), Todd Natalle 3-1-0, Naomi Rust 14-2-0, Briana Bergrud 1-1-0.

GF RED RIVER 25-25-25

MINOT 16-20-10

Red River (kills-blocks-aces) — Mikelle Fetsch 0-0-1, Kaitlin Anderson 6-1-0, Heidi Asche 3-0-0, Hadley Steffen 9-3-1, Annika Strand 8-0-3, Cassidy Bush 8-2-1, Shelby Bommersbach 2-0-1 (26 assists)

Minot (kills-blocks-aces) — Ashley Gathman 0-0-0 (6 assists), Morgan Milbrath 3-1-1, Alexandra Bolinske 1-2-0, Emily Bengson 0-0-0 (9 assists), Aundrea Hankla 1-1-0, Holly Johnson 3-2-0, Jayd Eggert 12-3-2.

FARGO NORTH 14-25-21-25-15

DICKINSON 25-15-25-13-9

Fargo North (kills-blocks-aces) — Emma Bergeron 9-0-0, Keli Johnson 9-4-0 (23 assists), Kira Larson 16-6-2, Destinee Thorstensen 1-1-0, Mckenzie Cody 4-1-1, Danielle Brewer 2-0-0 (13 assists), Courtney Johnson 6-0-3

Fargo North (kills-blocks-aces) — Molly Miller 0-0-2, Abby Grove 10-0-0, Madison Deibert 7-2-0, Ali Moody 1-2-1 (20 assists), Leslie Beaudoin 8-5-0, Melissa Sipma 0-0-3, Rachel Schroeder 1-2-0

DeVillers writes sports for The Grand Forks Herald

Tags: class a, sports, volleyball