The Dawson Volleyball team traveled to Sheridan, Wyoming to play in a tournament on Friday and Saturday and dropped two of their three matches. The Lady Bucs took on Northwest College the first day and fell 3-0 against the DI school out of Powell, Wyoming. The Bucs had a hard time getting anything started at the beginning of the match and lost the opening set 11-25. The next set Dawson came out with more energy and kept the game close until Northwest pulled away late in the set for a 19-25 win. The Lady Bucs lost the final set 13-25. Lexi Begger led the Bucs in kills with 6 followed closely behind by Shayna Baugh with 5. Samantha Youngman led in assists with 9. Three Lady Bucs had an ace each at the end of the match. Erin Campbell and Harlee Speth both ended the contest with 7 digs apiece while Baugh led the team with 6 blocks.
The next day the Lady Bucs bounced back against Miles Community College. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season with 2 more conference matches coming later in the year. Dawson won the match 3-1. The Bucs started off slow again in the first set and tried to make a late run, but it was too late as they dropped the first set 20-25. The next set the Lady Bucs started off strong with a lot of intensity and energy to take the lead and never look back for a 25-16 finish to tie the match at a set apiece. The third set the Pioneers from Miles kept the game very close but Dawson once again pulled away late in the game to win 25-22. Up 2-1, the Lady Bucs came out firing for one last set to finish the match on a 25-11 fourth set win. Begger once again led the team in kills with 10. Youngman had 31 assists to lead the team. Campbell racked in 5 aces to help the Bucs to their victory while also adding 27 digs to the effort. Baugh led the team again in blocks with 7.5 followed by Begger with 6 and Ebonay Clark with 3.5.
The last match of the tournament had the DCC Lady Bucs playing against the home team Sheridan Generals. Sheridan came started with a 10-1 run at the beginning of set one but the Bucs battled back to make it a game although they ran out of time ending the first set 19-25. Dawson was ready for them in the next set and made a couple adjustment. The Lady Bucs were ahead at point 20 but could not finish as the Generals came back to take the set 23-25 from DCC. The second set was a similar story as the Bucs came out pushing points trying to make a last effort to force another set, but once again Sheridan pulled away late in the set to take the match with a 22-25 win and 3-0 sweep of DCC. The leaders for this game were Harlee Speth with 7 kills followed by Begger and Baugh with 5 kills each. Samantha Youngman and Kylee Stump each tallied 10 assists while freshman Adalie Reinhart put in 4 aces. Campbell led the team once again in digs with 10 and Baugh led the front line with 8.5 blocks.
The Lady Bucs are back on the road this week playing NDSCS in Wahpeton, ND on Wednesday September 3 at 7pm. After that game the Bucs will make the long trip to Rangely, CO to play in the Blue Mountain Inn and Suites Invitational September 7-8. After a long road stretch, the Lady Bucs will finally have their first home game against Bismarck State College on September 12th at 7pm.