Rangers go to battle with Spartans

The young Hill City Rangers volleyball team continues to battle its way through the season, taking on Spearfish Tuesday night at home. 

The Spartans came away with a 3-0 victory, with set scores of 25-10, 25-20 and 25-7.

“There are always a lot of nerves with the first home game of the season,” said head coach Allie Henderson. “We finally overcame that a little in the second set, but then clearly let off the gas again in the third. We are working on that mental toughness aspect of the game, where we need to maintain our highest level of play consistently—not just when we need to or want to.”

Hill City put up its best fight in the second set, keeping pace with Spearfish for much of the game before falling 25-20. The Rangers continued to compete through the final set and will look to build on those stretches as the season progresses. 

“We are going to continue fine-tuning the things that we can control and the only way to continue gaining experience and getting comfortable with that pace is to just keep playing,” said Henderson.

Katelyn Dean led the Rangers defensively with 12 digs and also recorded two aces. Eden Wildeman added six digs, while Zulema Lupercio finished with five.

Carlie Hobbick led Hill City at the net with four kills, followed by eighth grader Cora Stoebner with three and Lindi Larsen with two. Stoebner also contributed an ace.

“We try to look at each player holistically and how each piece fits into the team dynamic,” said Henderson. “We are going to continue putting the puzzle together this year, where each player can find the role that best suits them and benefits the team in the greatest way. We are not at our peak yet this year, but the goal is to focus on improvement each day no matter what happened the day before.”

The Rangers hosted Douglas at home Tuesday. Results were not yet available upon publication.