The agony of defeat: Cards fall to Loboes in five in Region 3 semis

Cinderella's slipper couldn't quite fit the Carrington Cardinals' foot.

Try as they might, the Cards came back valiantly from a two-sets-to-none disadvantage, and forced a fifth set against LaMoure/Litchville-Marion with two victories.

But the final race to 15 points was not to be, and the Loboes would stifle CHS' bid for their first State Class B Tournament appearance in 10 years with a 3-2 (15-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-11, 12-15) loss in the semifinal round at the Region 3 Tournament Tuesday night, November 7, in Ellendale.

The win for the Loboes (24-11 overall) allowed them to advance to the championship match last Thursday night against Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier (30-4), who was seeking their first state berth since the 2006 season as Edgeley-Kulm.

Meanwhile, Carrington (25-11), fell to the third place match, where they took on Oakes (15-9 regular season record) in the game immediately preceding the title tilt.

Heidi Steffes's match-clinching kill for L-L-M was her 19th of the contest, trailing just teammate Tessa Rasmusson's 20 in that department. Bailie Kelley was another key to the victory with 11 kills to her credit.

The Cards came out of the bus a little bit flat to start, with L-L-M controlling play for much of the first two sets. In the do-or-die set three, CHS made a comeback to tie late, and staved off elimination with a two-point win.

Behind 12 of the first 14 points in set four, the Cards were off and running in their bid to square the match, and were never seriously challenged.

In the midst of play, two Carrington players achieved career highlights. Senior Kacie Rexin got her 1,000th career assist in the second set, which came off the heels of Madison Johnson getting dig number 1,000 in the first game.

Johnson's right arm did a good amount of the heavy lifting for the Cardinal hitters, as she finished with 20 kills, 26 digs, two aces and two stuff blocks. Isabel Wendel had 12 kills, 18 digs, two blocks and a team-best 25 assists.

Rexin's stat line included 21 assists and 18 digs, and libero Kenadie Pazdernik had 32 digs to lead the Cards in the loss.

In the other semifinal match, E-K-M took down the Oakes Tornadoes by a 3-1 score. Set tallies for the match were 26-24, 25-20, 15-25 and 25-23 in favor of the Rebels.

Region 3 Volleyball

Tournament, Ellendale

Semifinals

LaMoure/L-M 3, Carrington 2

Cgtn. 15 20 25 25 12 - 2

L-L-M 25 25 23 11 15 - 3

Carrington Individual Stats

Kills: Madison Johnson 20, Isabel Wendel 12, Harper Kollman 6, Mercedes Lura 5, Edyn Hoornaert 4, Kaydence VanRay 3, Kacie Rexin and Brynn Smith 2.

Aces: Johnson and Rexin 2, Smith and Wendel 1.

Assists: Wendel 25, Rexin 21, Hoornaert 1.

Blocks: Johnson and Wendel 2, Hoornaert and VanRay 1.

Digs: Kenadie Pazdernik 32, Johnson 26, Rexin and Wendel 18, Kollman 12, Hoornaert and Lura 4, Smith 3, VanRay 1.

LaMoure/L-M Individual Stats

Kills: Tessa Rasmusson 20, Heidi Steffes 19, Bailie Kelley 11, Norah DelaBarre 3, Addison Waldie 2.

Aces: Mia Van Eeden 2, DelaBarre, Kelley, Rasmusson and Grace Stroh 1.

Assists: Kelley 28, Van Eeden 15.

Blocks: H. Steffes 4, Kelley 2, DelaBarre, Izzy Miller and Waldie 1.

Digs: Savanna Steffes 22, Rasmusson 13, DelaBarre 11, Van Eeden 8, Kelley 3, Miller 2, Stroh 1.