FT. PIERRE - The Wolsey-Wessington Lady Warbirds will attempt to improve upon last season’s third place finish in the Class “B” State Volleyball tournament next weekend after earning a trip to Rapid City via a sweep of the Kadoka Area Kougars Tuesday at Stanley County High School in SoDak 16 action.

The Lady Warbirds move to 29-4 behind set scores of 25-19, 25-17, and 25-16, never trailing the entire night.

Wolsey-Wessington came out firing from the very first moment of the first set, jumping out to a 10-3 lead in set one, with all three points scored by Kadoka coming on W-W errors.

The Kougars showed why they were in the SoDak 16, however, working back to within three at 15-12 and drawing a timeout from Lady Warbirds coach Lindy Uttecht.

Wolsey-Wessington came out of the timeout and played much more clean volleyball the rest of the way, finishing with a 25-19 victory in the first set.

The two teams went back and forth early in the second set, until the two teams were knotted at 3-3.

That’s when the Lady Warbirds rattled off six straight points and took control of the game. The Cougars used a stretch of four straight points serving to get within 14-13, but that was as close as they could get.

The Lady Warbirds finished off a 25-17 set two win.

The third set opened with a strong showing from the Lady Warbirds, pulling out to a quick 8-3 lead when the Kougars called for a timeout.

Kadoka Area pushed back into the game at that point, tying it at 10, but Wolsey-Wessington got a strong kill from Kailynn Dorris to take the lead and never looked back, taking the third set 25-16 to earn the match sweep.

The Kougars finish the season 23-12.

The Lady Warbirds will face off with the Burke Cougars in the first round of the state tournament, Thursday, Nov. 16, in the second game of the afternoon session.