Madison upends Miller in Class A

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RAPID CITY — The Miller Rustlers fell short in their bid for a Class ‘A’ title in 2017, dropping a tough 3-1 decision to the Madison Lady Bulldogs in the opening round of the Class “A” State volleyball tournament. Set scores were 25-17, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-22 for Madison, which goes to 25-5 with the win.
The Lady Bulldogs opened the match quickly, jumping out to an early lead and pulling away in the opening set.
Things improved for the Rustlers in the second set. Madison again opened up quickly, scoring four points before Miller got on the board. The Lady Bulldogs maintained a four-to-five point advantage in the match, before the Rustlers began chipping away.
A hitting error by the Lady Bulldogs pulled Miller within two points, at 19-17. But Madison responded with four straight points and persevered for the second set win.
The teams traded points in the early going of the third set, until a kill by Josi Stevens, who was filling in for an injured VonnaGail Schlechter, made it 8-5 for the Rustlers.
After a kill by Olivia Rud cut the margin to 8-7, the Lady Bulldogs self-destructed, missing badly with the next four swings and boosting the Rustlers to a 12-7 lead.

Miller held its lead and back-to-back kills by Stevens and one from Kassie Schaefers pushed the lead to 21-16 for the Rustlers. A dual block by Kadye Fernholz and Annie Keeter closed the set 25-19 for Miller.
Set four appeared to be a knock-down, drag-out affair, as the teams stayed within a single point until a Keeter kill put Miller up 12-10. But with the score 13-11 in favor of the Rustlers, the Lady Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run, keyed by two kills from Jessi Giles and a block and a kill from Rud, to establish a lead of 19-13.
Miller made a late run as Fernholz had two kills and Rachel Oligmueller had an ace serve to make it 24-22, but a Rud block ended the match for Madison.
Fernholz led the Rustlers with 17 kills in the match and added 16 digs to aid the defense. Stevens came off the bench to contribute seven kills, a total that was matched by both Keeter and Karly Beckett.
Oligmueller had 35 set assists in the game, while both Kassie Schaefers and Beckett added 10 digs in the match.
Rud had a game-high 20 kills, and Giles added 18 in the potent Madison front-row attack. Shania Schwebach passed out 48 set assists and Giles led the defense with 19 digs.
Madison will tangle with top-seeded SF Christian in a championship semifinal match tonight at 6 p.m. MT, while Miller will play McCook Central-Montrose in the consolation round this afternoon at noon.

Photo:

Miller’s Rachel Oligmueller sets the ball as teammate Kassie Schaefers approaches the net during a match against Madison in the opening round of the Class A State Volleyball Tournament on Thursday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

Photo courtesy of South Dakota Public Broadcasting