H.S. Volleyball: Pierre finishes perfect season

By Mike Smith, Journal correspondent Friday, October 26, 2007 PIERRE — The Pierre volleyball team completed its first undefeated season by sweeping arch-nemesis Aberdeen Central in a three-game set Thursday in front of a packed house at Riggs Gym. The Lady Govs won three competitive games, 25-21, 25-21 and 25-19 to head to the district tournament 19-0. This marks the first time Pierre has ever beaten the Golden Eagles at home in the 15-year history of the team. “Since they were about 15-0, its been their biggest goal,” coach Kacy Kienholz said. “They never doubted themselves and they played really, really well. We knew Aberdeen would try and attack our weaknesses, but we didn’t have many weaknesses tonight.”

Pierre has been extended to five games by three teams this season — Huron, Brandon Valley and Aberdeen Central in the third game of the season on Aug. 28 in Aberdeen. In fact, the Lady Govs actually trailed two games to one and were down 22-18 in the fourth game before rallying to win.

“We were looking forward to it and knew we could pull it off,” Lady Govs senior Gina Geffre said. “(Aberdeen) used to always beat us so its awesome to beat them on our home court to remain undefeated. But we know we'll probably see them again."

Pierre senior Polly Gill was the biggest factor in the first game as she had nine of her game-high 18 kills.

“Polly started out with a few hitting errors, but she was able to rebound,” Kienholz said.

“She was determined to get kills.”

Aberdeen Central was still able to maintain a late lead at 19-18 before Pierre would score four straight. Bethany Goeden had the game-winning kill.

The Golden Eagles looked to get even with a fast start in Game 2, scoring six of the first seven points. But the Lady Govs responded by going on an 8-0 run to regain the momentum. Stephanie Paluch had four kills in the win, including the game-winner.

The third and final game was a back-and-forth affair until Pierre put the match away.

The game was tied at 19-all when the Lady Govs scored the final six points. The game-winner was Gill’s 18th kill on the night.

Gill also had two serving aces and an ace block. Paluch had seven kills, two serving aces and two ace blocks.

“We talked about how our defense was going to win our match,” Kienholz said. “Amanda (Stout) made some dives to get some balls that would normally hit the ground. You could see it in their faces that the intensity was high.”

Aberdeen was led by Alison Kusler with nine kills. Amanda Lipp added seven kills and Ella Campbell five.

Pierre will be the top seed in next week’s District 3AA tournament. They will host Mitchell on Tuesday at 6 p.m. MDT.

“I’m extremely proud of what thes girls have accomplished, and hopefully we can keep it going,” Kienholz said. “Mitchell is a team that defensively picks up a lot of balls, so we have to go at them. We haven’t seen them since the second week in September, so we have to be on our toes.”