Get the brooms out

On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the No. 7 New Rockford-Sheyenne Rockets took on the No. 8 North Star Bearcats in what was the Rockets' biggest region game so far this season.

Despite expectations of a close battle, however, Tuesday evening's matchup in New Rockford was anything but, as the Rockets cruised to a 3-0 sweep of the Bearcats and set their sights on Region 4's other ranked opponent.

The Rockets established the tone of the match early, getting off to a 6-1 start and eventually taking the second set by a score of 25-13.

By then, many in the attendance on Tuesday would have noticed a significant lineup change for the Rockets, as Kaiya O'Connor has returned to the setter position she held a season ago.

The Rockets' setter to start this season, Ava Peterson, has moved to right-side hitter. And so far, the reshuffle appears to be going well.

The NR-S netters haven't dropped a set since O'Connor took over as their setter, and Peterson had a great game on Tuesday with several excellent digs and some impressive kills. She ended the night with 13 digs and 7 kills, while O'Connor amassed 32 assists and 3 kills of her own.

Of course, Kelsie Belquist was efficiently scoring points for the Rockets per usual, and the team as a whole was executing an effective game plan.

However, for a brief period in the second set, that appeared to change.

NR-S once again got off to a hot start in the second set, establishing a 5-1 advantage in just a few minutes. But soon after, a string of mistakes allowed the Bearcats to tighten the score and keep it close for much of the set.

Eventually North Star even took the lead – their biggest advantage of the night being 3 points when it was 8-11.

The Rockets, however, were ultimately the better team, and once their mistakes subsided they got back on track and retook the lead at 16-15. They would go on to close out the second set by a score of 25-22 as a kill from Lucy Meier glanced off a pair of blockers and landed out of bounds.

The third was a return to form for NR-S, as they looked comfortable and at times dominant. The Bearcats managed to limit the Rockets' hot start this time, but towards the middle of the set NR-S pulled away.

The third set ended with a well-placed kill from Peterson, bringing the set's final score to 25-17 and securing an impressive 3-0 sweep for the Rockets.

With NR-S appearing to have a clear advantage over one of their primary challengers for a Region 4 championship, the Rockets' focus now shifts to their other primary challenger: the No. 2 Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich Cardinals.

The Cardinals recently won the Des Lacs/Burlington tournament with a win over No. 1 Dickinson Trinity, and they're looking to return to the state tournament after NR-S took them down in last year's region tournament.

The two teams will have a chance to play each other on Tuesday, Oct. 17 in Langdon – a game which could go a long way towards seeding at the region tournament.

The Rockets' win over North Star followed another 3-0 sweep over the Dunseith Dragons on Thursday, Oct. 5.

Impressively, as of press time the Rockets had yet to drop a single set against region competition this season, not including the Devils Lake tournament where multiple NR-S starters were unable to attend.

Their region record following the North Star game climbed to 4-0, while their overall record improved to 23-5.

On Thursday, Oct. 12, the Rockets took on a solid North Prairie Cougars team, a match which will be covered in next week's edition of the Transcript.

Region 4 Volleyball

NR-S 3, Dunseith 0

at Dunseith

Thursday, Oct. 5

NR-S: 25 25 25 X X – 3

Dunseith: 9 14 16 X X – 0

NR-S Individual

Statistics:

Kills: Kelsie Belquist 21, Lora Wobbema 4, Lucy Meier 3, Ava Peterson 3, Kaiya O'Connor 2, Logan Cudworth 1, Addy Fandrich 1.

Assists: O'Connor 24, Peterson 2.

Digs: Peterson 7, Meier 4, Cudworth 3, O'Connor 2, Ava Bullinger 1.

Blocks: Wobbema 2, Meier 1.

Aces: Meier 6, Wobbema 4, Cudworth 2, K. Belquist 1, Peterson 1, O'Connor 1.

Junior Varsity:

NR-S 2, Dunseith 1

(23-25, 25-15, 15-3)

C-Squad:

NR-S 2, Dunseith 1

(25-20, 22-25, 15-5)

Junior High:

NR-S 2, Dunseith 1

(25-16, 27-25, 15-10)

Region 4 Volleyball

NR-S 3, NS 0

at New Rockford

Tuesday, Oct. 10

NR-S: 25 25 25 X X – 3

N. Star: 14 22 17 X X –- 0

NR-S Individual

Statistics:

Kills: K. Belquist 18, Wobbema 7, Peterson 7, O'Connor 3, Meier 2, Fandrich 2.

Assists: O'Connor 32, Peterson 4, K. Belquist 2, Wobbema 1.

Digs: Peterson 13, Meier 13, Cudworth 11, K. Belquist 10, O'Connor 5, Wobbema 3, Fandrich 3.

Blocks: Wobbema 1.

Aces: K. Belquist 3, Peterson 2, Wobbema 1, Meier 1.

Junior Varsity:

NR-S 2, NS 0

(26-24, 25-14)

C-Squad:

NR-S 2, NS 1

(11-25, 25-23, 15-11)

8th grade:

NR-S 1, NS 2

(25-19, 7-25, 10-15)

7th grade:

NR-S 2, NS 0

(25-9, 25-12)