SPEARFISH, S.D. — The Spearfish Spartans put together one of their strongest all-around performances of the season Saturday, sweeping the Pierre Governors in three sets at Spearfish High School.
Spearfish battled through a back-and-forth opening set before taking control of the match, winning 27-25, 25-17 and 25-20. The victory improved the Spartans to 7-8 on the season.
Spartans Survive Back-and-Forth Opening Set
Spearfish benefited from Pierre mistakes early, with the Spartans’ first four points coming off Governors errors.
Taylor Burry eventually delivered Spearfish’s first point of its own with an ace to give the Spartans a 5-2 advantage. Finley Bouman followed with a kill to extend the lead to 6-2 before a miscommunication ended the early Spearfish run.
Julia Billington quickly got the Spartans moving again, hammering a ball to the floor as Spearfish began establishing its attack.
The teams traded points until Addison Keller put down consecutive kills to give Spearfish a six-point advantage, its largest lead of the set to that point.
Pierre wasn’t going away.
The Governors steadily chipped away at the deficit and eventually pulled within a point. Billington responded with another powerful kill to briefly swing the momentum back toward Spearfish, but Pierre continued its push and tied the set at 22.
The Governors eventually grabbed a late lead, forcing the Spartans to respond with the opening set hanging in the balance.
Spearfish did exactly that.
After the teams traded points down the stretch, the Spartans finished off the 27-25 victory and took a 1-0 match lead.
It was Spearfish’s most productive attacking set of the match. The Spartans recorded 15 kills on 29 attacks while hitting .310 in the opener.
Spearfish Takes Control in Set Two
The Spartans carried the momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 3-1 lead before Pierre answered.
The two teams stayed close early until Keller delivered an ace that helped Spearfish begin creating separation.
Then Billington went to work.
The senior outside hitter put down multiple kills as the Spartans built a six-point advantage and eventually stretched the lead to as many as eight.
Pierre made another push and cut Spearfish’s advantage to three, but this time the Spartans didn’t allow the Governors to complete the comeback.
Burry and the Spartans responded with a run of their own, outscoring Pierre 7-2 to close the set and taking it 25-17.
That put Spearfish one set away from the sweep.
Keller Delivers the Final Point
Spearfish again established an early advantage in the third set, but Pierre answered with consecutive points.
The Spartans responded by putting five more on the board before the Governors countered with a 3-0 run that trimmed the Spearfish lead to 8-6.
Spearfish immediately answered.
A 3-0 Spartans run pushed the advantage back to 11-6, and Spearfish gradually created more separation as the set progressed. The Spartans eventually built an 18-11 advantage and put themselves in position to finish the match.
Pierre made one final push, cutting the deficit to four at 24-20.
Keller made sure it went no further.
She sent the final ball to the floor, closing out a 25-20 third-set victory and completing the three-set sweep.
Billington Leads Balanced Spearfish Attack
Billington delivered a standout all-around performance, finishing with a match-high 13 kills on 24 attacks with just three errors for a .417 hitting percentage. She also recorded 13 digs, an ace and 14 total points.
Keller added eight kills and two aces, while Burry and Bouman each finished with five kills. Burry hit .400 and recorded nine digs, while Bouman contributed three solo blocks.
Spearfish also received production from its setters. Piper Jacobs recorded a team-high 17 assists to go with seven digs and two aces, while Layla Meredith added 15 assists, four kills and four digs.
As a team, the Spartans finished with 40 kills, 35 assists, six aces, 49 digs and five total blocks while hitting .255 for the match. Spearfish saved one of its better attacking performances for the final set, hitting .290 with 14 kills.
The straight-set victory gives Spearfish its seventh win of the season and moves the Spartans to 7-8 as they continue through the second half of their schedule.
Spearfish is on the road on Tuesday, September 15 in Rapid City to take on the Raiders.