The DCC Volleyball team went on the road last week to play at Bismarck State College on Wednesday and then traveled to Devils Lake to play Lake Region State College on Thursday. Bismarck is the #2 team in the conference currently while the Bucs are sitting in 4th place. The first time the Lady Bucs played the Mystics it ended in a five set thriller with BSC coming out on top. Unfortunately, in this game the Bucs had a hard time getting anything going and fell to the Lady Mystics in three sets 19-25, 16-25 and 21-25. The Bucs pushed hard every set, but just couldn’t overcome the Mystics in their home gym. This was the Mystics “Pink Night” and the Bucs participated by wearing their pink jerseys to show support to everyone fighting against breast cancer. After the game the two teams set aside the rivalry to take a picture together. Lady Bucs Head Coach Dina Fritz said, “We are all competitive and want to win every match we can, but sometimes we come across something that is bigger than volleyball. This is one of those things. With our platform, collegiate athletics I think it is important to make sure we all stay humble and use it positively. We all know someone who has or is still being affected by cancer and to help raise money for them to fight their fight is a win in my book.”
The top performers for the match were Shayna Baugh leading the offensive charge with 10 kills followed by Lexi Begger with 9. Baugh also led the team in blocks with 5. Nynah Bryant was the leader in assists with 25 and Erin Campbell had the lone ace of the night for the Bucs. Campbell and Harlee Speth both racked in 10 digs to lead the Bucs on the defensive side.
On the next night, the Bucs took on the Royals from Lake Region. This was also a big game as LRSC is the number 3 team in the conference and the last time these two teams met, it also ended in a five set match with the Bucs falling just short in the fifth. The Bucs came out strong in the first set but just couldn’t pull away late and lost the first set 20-25. In the second set, the Lady Bucs struggled across the board to get anything going offensively and dropped the set 15-25 going into intermission down 2-0. In the third set, the Bucs played hard to try and take a set off of the home team, but in the end the Royals pulled away and won the third and last set 30-28. The leaders for the match were Speth with 11 kills and Samantha Youngman tallied 13 assists followed by Bryant with 7. Begger and Bryant also had 2 aces on the night. Campbell once again led the defensive charge in the back row with 25 digs, but Speth was right behind with 20 and Cierra Loudon contributed 17. Ebonay Clark had a great night at the net with 4.5 blocks and Begger also chipped in 4 blocks.
The Lady Bucs take on Williston State College in Williston on Monday October 15th at 6pm mountain time. The last home game for the Lady Bucs is sophomore night on Monday October 22nd against Miles Community College at 7pm.