FLYERS STUMBLE AGAINST NORTHWESTERN, WILL PLAY FOR 7TH
Twenty-five: That’s the number of kills posted by Northwestern standout Ella Haven.
Four: That’s the number of aces the senior had.
And that is what made the difference in what was a disappointing straight-set loss for the Freeman High School girls in the consolation round of the Class B State Volleyball Tournament Friday afternoon in Sioux Falls.
Looking to avenge a well-played but tough loss to top-seed Warner on Thursday, the No. 8-seed Flyers struggled to find any rhythm against the No. 4-seed Wildcats as Haven’s offensive power at the net took Freeman out of its game midway through the first set, and they never recovered.
Northwestern won 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 and will take a 28-9 record in the consolation championship on Saturday morning. Freeman drops to 21-11 and will play for seventh place at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday against No. 6-seed Colman-Egan (23-11).
Freeman’s match against Northwestern was close early; the Flyers and Wildcats were tied 4-4 but Northwestern used serving from Haven to go on a 6-0 run for a 10-4 lead. Still, Freeman hung tough and had it 16-16 on a Kate Miller kill, but Haven’s dominating play at the net was too much for the Flyers to handle and the Wildcats finished the first set on a 9-1 run.
The Flyers responded by quickly jumping ahead 2-0 in the second set but fell behind almost as quickly. It was 6-8, then 7-15, then 10-20 and finally 25-13. At no point in the set did Freeman score more than two consecutive points, which says everything about the momentum of the contest.
The one spark the Freeman girls found in the entire match came in the third set.
Trailing 5-17, the Flyers went on an 8-2 run to draw as close as 13-19, but it was too little too late. Northwestern finished off the match on a 7-2 run — the story of the contest.
According to stats provided by DakStats, Freeman had 23 team kills to the Wildcats’ 45 and 20 set assists to Northwestern’s 43.
For context as to the level of volleyball the Flyers are playing at state, the Class B title has been won be either Warner or Northwestern 10 of the last 11 years and 16 of the last 19.
And Colman-Egan, who Freeman will play on Saturday, was last year’s runner-up.
