The Roland-Story Norsemen volleyball team returned to action on Thursday night, as they hosted the 12th-ranked team in Class 4A in the Nevada Cubs in Heart of Iowa Conference action at Roland-Story High School in Story City. The Norsemen entered at 15-8 and 5-0 in the conference, while Nevada entered at 20-12 and a similar 5-0 conference mark.
This one would be a war from the get out, as Nevada used a quick start to take a 25-16 set 1 win. Roland-Story returned the favor in the following set, using a strong close to take a similar 25-16 win in set 2. Set 3 was a battle right down to the finish, but service and attack errors doomed the Cubs as Roland-Story took the set 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead. Nevada’s response was sharp, absolutely dominating the 4th set 25-11, sending the match to a winner-take-all 5th set. In the 5th set, Nevada led by as much as 6 before Roland-Story tied it a 9-9. However, it was Nevada that just a little more in the tank to pull out the 15-11 win, a 3-2 win and a conference title.
The Jewell Market Player of the Game was Roland-Story freshman Brookelyn Jondle, who finished with 7 kills, 4 aces, a block and 23 digs. Kam Lande had a big night on the nets, finishing with a team-high 11 kills, 4 blocks and an ace. Miley Geise added 16 assists and 3 aces, while Ali Charlson had 15 assists. Nevada’s Rachel Borwick had a match-high 22 kills on the night.
Roland-Story returns to action on Saturday, when they travel to Hampton to compete in the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Tournament at 9 AM.