Volleyball Season Begins

The Royals Volleyball team finished their first week of competition with a record of 2-4, matching the number of wins from all of last season. There were many highlights from the stretch of matches, and the team learned a lot about the style of play. There was a lot of growth, and many huge plays were made.

Wednesday, August 25^th vs. Dakota College at Bottineau. For our first match, we started out slow, and it took a while for our young team to get acclimated to the new system. The Royals dropped the first set 12-25, but made the last two sets much closer, losing 22-25 and 21-25. We committed a few too many serving errors, but overall, we settled in and played tough the entire night.

Stats: Kayahna Hopfauf: 7 kills, 2 blocks; Tangi Jenson: 1 kill, 12 assists, 2 service aces, and 3 digs; Abbey Wieber: 1 kill, 5 digs, and .5 blocks; Josie Jenkins: 4 kills and 3 digs; Audrey Welle: 4 kills and 1 block; Maddie Stefonowicz: 2 kills and 3 blocks; Mencia Rodriguez: 7 assists, 1 service ace; Lexi Telehey: 6 kills and 6 digs.

Thursday, August 26^th vs. Trinity Bible: Our home opener brought a whole new Royals team to the floor. They showed a lot of intensity and excitement, and they won the match 3-0. The first set was won in dominating fashion, winning 25-7. The second set was 25-13, and the final set was 25-18. All of the Royals players contributed in this match, and it was a very fun atmosphere in the gym.

Stats: Kayahna Hopfauf: 5 kills and 1 block; Abbey Wieber: 2 ace serves and 11 digs; Lexi Telehey: 4 kills, 4 service aces, and 3 digs; Ashley McFadgen: 6 kills, 7 digs, and 1 block; Audrey Welle: 4 kills, 2 ace serves, 3 digs, and 3 blocks; Maddie Stefonowicz: 4 kills and 1.5 blocks; Mencia Rodriguez: 16 assists, 1 ace serve, and 4 digs.

Friday, August 27^th and Saturday August 28^th: On Friday and Saturday, the Royals traveled to Bismarck for the Mystic Invite. They opened with Bismarck State College and did not come out ready to play. They dropped the match 0-3 (13-25, 14-25, 9-25). But, the team bounced back and finished Friday with a big revenge win against Bottineau, who we lost to 2 days prior, by a score of 3-0 (27-25, 25-22, 25-21). On Saturday, the Royals battled tough against Miles Community College, but lost 0-3 (25-27, 18-25, 21-25), and finished the tournament with a very strong Jamestown JV squad, but lost that match 1-3 (22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 21-25). The tournament showed a lot of growth and proved how strong this team really is. With more experience and matches played, they will be very fun to watch.

Stats from the Mystic Invite: 26 kills, 6 blocks; Abbey Wieber: 4 service aces and 36 digs; Lexi Telehey: 23 kills and 17 digs; Ashley McFadgen: 23 kills and 22 digs; Audrey Welle: 20 kills and 5 blocks; Maddie Stefonowicz: 17 kills and 8 blocks; Mencia Rodriguez: 89 assists, 4 kills, 7 ace serves, and 8 digs.

This week, the Royals host Dawson Community College on Tuesday at 7:00 at Sweetwater Elementary School and Miles Community College on Wednesday at 7:00 at the Sportscenter. Saturday, the Royals travel to Dakota County Technical College to battle DCTC and Hibbing Community College.

Go Royals!