Rangers advance to state tourney

The Hill City Rangers girls volleyball team keeps advancing, and qualified for the South Dakota Class A State Tournament by virtue of a straight sets win over the Winner Warriors in  SoDak 16 action Nov. 9. The Rangers defeated Winner 25-9, 25-17 and 25-17.

Thursday the team will take on Wagner at 1:45 p.m. in the Summit Arena at the Monument in Rapid City in the first round of state tournament action. The Wagner Red Raiders team is “fairly tall and athletic,” according to Hill City coach Renae Schneider.

“They run a 5-1 offense with one setter. They swing hard and read the court well. They are a young team with only two seniors on the roster.” Schneider said.

Schneider is confident the Rangers can win if the girls are “able to run in system and serve aggressively to get them out of system.”

“We could surprise them,” she said.

The Red Raiders are a formidable opponent of the Rangers. “In the SoDak 16 game, they were down two  sets and came back to win the next three, so they are relentless,” she said.

The Rangers enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed at 26-7, and figure to be evenly matched with Wagner, the No. 5 seed, which has a record of 27-6.