FORESTBURG — The Hitchcock-Tulare Lady Patriots successfully defended the 281 Conference Tournament title they won last year Saturday night, with a 3-1 win over the top-seeded Sanborn Central-Woonsocket Blackhawks, on the Blackhawks’ home court.
The Lady Patriots, seeded third in the tournament, downed the No. 2 Wolsey-Wessington Lady Warbirds in one championship semifinal to earn a shot at the title, while the Blackhawks defeated the fifth-seeded Wessington Springs Lady Spartans in the other.
In consolation play, which took place in Highmore, the James Valley Christian Lady Vikings defeated the Highmore-Harrold Pirates for the consolation championship, while the Sunshine Bible Academy Crusaders got their first win of the season, defeating the Iroquois Lady Chiefs for seventh place.
Here is a recap of Saturday’s semifinal and final round action:

Championship
The Lady Patriots got 13 kills and three aces from Cassidy Johnson and a dozen kills, with a block from Elizabeth Salmen en route to the conference tournament title, by set scores of 25-17, 18-25, 25-14 and 25-23. Kenidee Enander handed out 39 assists and 18 digs for H-T, while Dannyn Peterson had 17 digs and a solo block. Dawsyn Otto had eight kills, and Trajan Fiehe added three aces to aid the Lady Patriot cause.
Tesa Jensen led the Blackhawks with 12 kills and four aces, while Erica Howard contributed eight kills and Shannon Linn added seven. Madi Moody had 26 assists and a pair of aces, while Kaylee White and Taryn Ziebart led the defense with 20 and 14 digs, respectively.
The Lady Patriots, now 10-10, travel to Warner Tuesday night, while the Blackhawks, who fall to 12-6 with the loss, travel to Sunshine Bible Academy Tuesday night.

Third Place
The Lady Spartans, which move to 9-7 on the season, defeated the Lady Warbirds in straight sets for third place in the 281 Conference tournament, 25-21, 25-21 and 25-12. Wolsey-Wessington falls to 7-4 with the loss.
Trinity Flowers powered home eight kills for the Lady Spartans, while Maddie Neely added six kills, three aces and eight digs in the match. Piper Jones had seven kills and four blocks for Wessington Springs, while Sierra Burg led the defense with 12 digs. Chasity Vissia had three aces and 17 set assists.
The Lady Warbirds got six kills, three aces and 10 digs from Lizzi Brandt. Shayla Muilenburg had 18 assists, while Ally Boomsma had seven kills and three kills and Chantel Haider added five kills. Cortney Sprecher and Raquel Nelson each had three blocks and Nelson had seven digs.

Wolsey-Wessington hosts Iroquois on Tuesday, while the Lady Spartans host Ethan.

Championship semifinals
Sanborn Central-Woonsocket defeated Wessington Springs 21-25, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-21 to earn a spot in the title game.
Jensen had 11 kills and three blocks for SC-W, which also got 10 kills from Mariah Jost. Madi Moody had 25 assists and 20 digs, Kaylee White had 19 digs, seven assists and three aces while Shannon Linn had six blocks.
Makayla Dornbush led the Lady Spartans’ offense with 12 kills, while Maddie Neely had six kills and an ace. Sierra Burg had 24 digs and Piper Jones had a pair of aces.
Hitchcock-Tulare defeated Wolsey-Wessington 24-26, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-19 to win its championship semifinal. The Lady Patriots were led by Dawson Otto’s 17 kills, while Cassidy Johnson added nine kills, a pair of blocks and 18 digs and Kenidee Enander doled out 33 assists and had four aces.
Wolsey-Wessington was led by Sprecher’s six kills, five blocks and three aces, while Chantel Haider also had six kills and added a pair of aces. Muilenburg had 26 assists and 15 digs. Hailey Clarke led the defense with 17 digs.

Consolation championship
The Lady Vikings downed Highmore-Harrold in four sets by scores of 25-17, 25-20, 20-25 and 25-23 to claim fifth place in the tournament. Julia Blom led the Lady Vs with 17 kills, three aces and 11 digs in the consolation championship game. Rebekah Williams had 31 assists and also tallied three aces, while Angelina Zuccaro had six kills, three aces and nine digs. Josalyn Wipf had five blocks and Allison Blom had 13 digs.
Highmore-Harrold hosts Sully Buttes Tuesday night, while JVC travels to Oldham/Ramona-Rutland on Tuesday.
Seventh place
The Crusaders broke into the win column, taking a 3-0 win over Iroquois for seventh place.
Lindsey Wilken had 11 kills and 11 digs to pace the SBA effort, while Shariah Brockel had seven kills and added a block. Taylor Michaelis had three aces, while Hannah Appel and Liza Konechne each had two aces in the game.
Iroquois got six kills from Kaitlyn Maas, while Hayley Geyer added six aces and three digs. Harley Nelson had three aces, two kills, one block and had four digs for the Lady Chiefs.
SBA will host Sanborn Central-Woonsocket on Tuesday while Iroquois travels to Wolsey-Wessington on Tuesday.
Consolation semifinals
Highmore-Harrold defeated Iroquois in straight sets, 25-7, 25-13 and 25-16 in one consolation semifinal match.
Grace Knox and Maddie Bollweg each had five kills. Bollweg had four aces and Halle Tvedt passed out 14 assists in the match.
Niah Rogers and Jorja Hulse each had three kills for Iroquois and Hannah Hofhenke had eight assists.
James Valley Christian won the other consolation semifinal with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 win over SBA. Julia Blom had nine kills, five aces and a block for the Lady Vikings. Angie Zuccaro had seven kills and Rebekah Williams passed out 16 assists. Kerstyn Fast had four aces and Brenna Held added three for JVC.
SBA was led by Wilken’s eight kills, 12 digs, one block and an ace, while Abby Hawn had 11 assists.

PHOTOS BY ANGELINA DELLA ROCCO/PLAINSMAN
Hitchcock-Tulare outside hitter Dawsyn Otto soars for a kill attempt in the Lady Patriot’s semifinal win over Wolsey-Wessington. Defending on the play for the Lady Warbirds is Macie Luce (8) and Chantel Haider.

Next, Sanborn Central-Woonsocket’s Mariah Jost (21) thwarts the kill attempt by Wessington Springs Trinity Flowers, helping SC-W to a win in its semifinal match on Saturday, in Forestburg.