Volleyball season comes to end
The 2024 Custer High School Wildcat volleyball season came to a close last Thursday night with a loss in the region semifinals to the St. Thomas More Cavaliers.
The match went into five sets, with Custer catching a second wind to take the third and fourth sets after losing the first two. In the end, the score stood 18-25, 10-25, 26-24, 25-14, 7-15.
The team came into the match with previous defeats to STM, but were optimistic for a competitive match, which they got.
“We were expecting to be evenly matched. Even though the last matches had not gone in our favor, we knew that if we played well and put all the things we had been focusing on in practice together that we would be right in there,” said head coach Jill Hohn.
Although the first sets didn’t go their way, the Wildcats were able to pull through for two winning sets to even the score.
“We started very slow the first two sets. Many teams would have thrown in the towel after those first two sets, but the team came out with a drive and a fire to keep going. They played with so much heart and excitement and executed so incredibly well. We dominated the third and fourth sets and pushed a fifth set,” said Hohn.
It came down to the fifth set to settle the match, and in the end, STM came away with the win to move on to the SoDak 16 tournament.
“The fifth set did not go as we would have liked but what a great way to end the season by leaving it all on the court. The pride and love that I have for this team is immeasurable,” said Hohn.
The Wildcats came into the match with STM fresh off a win over Belle Fourche in round one of the region play on Tuesday. The team won in three sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-13).
“This match went very well for us. We came in ready to play and were able to win in three sets,” Hohn said. “We dominated the first two sets and played very well as a team. We struggled a little bit in the third and it got a little closer than we would have liked, but we were able to pull it all together and come away with the win.”
Jordyn Larsen had 16 kills and 10 digs in the match. Lyncoln Robb had kills. Kylee Pulscher scored six kills, 26 assists and 14 digs. Kylee Ellerton had six assists and 21 digs. Kayda Hanis had 11 digs.
Now that the season has come to a close, Hohn is happy with how it went.
“As with any team and with any season, we had our ups and downs, but we were able to finish the season on a strong note and be proud of what we had accomplished,” said Hohn.
She is also looking forward to a strong season next year, with plenty of talent among the younger classes and lots of returning varsity players. This year the team loses Brooklyn Bennett, Taylor Bland, Kayda Hanis, Jordyn Larsen, Kylee Pulscher and Shauna Zacher.
“We will obviously miss this year’s outstanding senior class, but we return with a lot of talented varsity players as well as with lower classmen who have been putting the work in and improving. We are optimistic for the future of Wildcat volleyball,” said Hohn.