By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

After a slow start in the morning, which included two losses, Dell Rapids St. Mary rebounded to win the Bronze Division at the Dakota Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament on Saturday at Estelline.
“After having a disappointing morning, I felt like they got themselves fired up,” Coach Tracy Herber said. “They came out like a different team. They looked like they were ready to play. They acted more determined.”
In the first match of the tournament, Castlewood beat the Cardinals, 25-22 and 25-22.
“We would get out in front and they were able to come back,” Herber said. ‘We had some long rallies, but struggled on serve-receive.”
The team had nine serve receive errors and only four kills.
Danielle Kubly had three ace serves, seven digs, one block and six assists. Chelsey Brown had one serve, six digs, two blocks and six kills.
In the second match of the tournament, Oldham Ramona/Rutland defeated Dell Rapids St. Mary, 25-14 and 25-14.
“Our girls did not get out on the floor very motivated. The confidence level was down,” Herber said. “Their hitters attacked the ball. We weren’t getting any hands on any balls and slowing the balls down for the passer.”
Chelsey Brown had eight digs, three kills and one assist, while Kubly had five digs and five assists.
Then came the afternoon session and play in the Bronze Division. The Cardinals defeated DeSmet 25-18 and 26-24 in the first match.
Herber said the front line showed improvement and were attacking the ball. The team ended up with 24 kills in the match. “They came out fired up and realized they could beat DeSmet,” Herber said. “Their confidence level was up and they communicated better as a team.”
Chelsey Brown had one ace, six digs, 11 kills and one assist, while Kubly had three digs, two kills and 11 assists.
In the final match of the day, Dell Rapids St. Mary defeated Deubrook, 25-23 and 25-22.
The key to the match was blocking, according to Herber.
Chelsey Brown got her hands on 16 balls and had three blocks.
In addition, Herber was able to mix in some of the younger girls and she said they did a better job as the tournament went along.
Nine of the girls got kills in the match.
“We also played with a lot more fire,” she said.
To go along with her three blocks, Brown had one ace serve, five digs, four kills and an assist. In addition, Kubly had two ace serves, eight digs, six assists and two kills. Robyn Everist had 12 digs, one kill and one assist.
Earlier in the week, Dell Rapids St. Mary won three games from Baltic 26-24, 25-22 and 27-25.
In that match, Chelsey Brown had 10 digs, one block, 11 kills and one assist. Whitney Michel had two ace serves, six digs, 13 assists and one kill, while Mariah Mergen contributed two aces serves eight digs and seven kills.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Herber said. “There were a few more serve receive errors than I like. That made our games pretty close, but I was proud that with all the errors we were able to pull out the win in three games.”