Royals Deal out Dominant Performance

Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, October 9th, 2019

Lake Region State College got down in the early stages of its match against Dawson Community College. But once the Royals took the lead in that first set, the Buccaneers were looking upward from that point forward.

The Royals dominated the match, beating the Buccaneers in straight sets. The win was the Royals second in eight matches, giving them their second Mon-Dak victory of the season but also put them in a position to qualify for a region tournament bid in November so it was a perfect time to get their first win since Sept. 21.

"This match was important on what happens in the rest of the conference. We needed this for a chance to make it into the regional tournament so now we have to keep going," said Royals head coach Brigitte Greywater.

With the win, the Royals (7-16, 2-5 MonDak) are tied with Dawson Community (5-17, 2-5) for fifth in the Mon-Dak. The conference's top five seeds will qualify for the regional tournament.

The Buccaneers went out to a 6-2 lead in the first set but the Royals came back to tie the score at 6-all after an ace by Rachel Hill. The Royals went on a 7-2 run, built their advantage to nine and scored four straight points, including a kill and an ace by Jexley Porrata and a kill by Madi Scutchings that led to the 25-13 first set win.

The Royals controlled both the second and third sets, going up 22-13 in set No. 2 after a Fabianne Besosa ace but the Buccaneers went on an 8-2 run to pull within three before the Lake Region finished the set at 25-21. Again in the final set, the Royals led by 10, was up 21-12 but Dawson Community went on a short spurt that forced Greywater to call a timeout at 22-15.

"Watching the scoreboard in that third set, that's their brains. That's their brains playing a factor with what's happening," Greywater said. "So at that timeout, I told them to stick with the game plan."

After the timeout, the Royals scored two quick points to make the scored 24-15 but Dawson Community scored three points before a Jadaeya Morrell kill ended the set at 25-18, and ending the match in a sweep.

Of the seven matches won by the Royals this season, three have been by sweeps and two others were done in four.