RAPID CITY, S.D. — Julia Billington reached a career milestone Tuesday night, but the Spearfish Spartans couldn’t close out Rapid City Central, falling to the Cobblers 3-2 at Howard Naasz Gymnasium.
Central won by set scores of 25-10, 17-25, 25-22, 20-25 and 15-11. The Spartans fell to 10-20, while the Cobblers moved to 12-18.
Billington recorded her 500th varsity career kill and led Spearfish with 18 kills on a .293 hitting percentage. She added two solo blocks and an assisted block for a team-high 21 points.
Set 1: Tibke takes over
Central opened on a 3-0 run, starting with a kill from Leah Landry. Layla Meredith answered for Spearfish with a kill, a block and another kill to tie it at 3.
That was as close as the Spartans would get in the opener. The Cobblers rattled off a 9-1 run, powered by Elsa Tibke, who put down four straight kills to give Central a 12-4 lead.
Taylor Burry stopped the run with a kill, and a Megan Markovetz ace plus a Central error pulled Spearfish within 12-7. Tibke kept attacking, adding more kills and an ace, while Dream Niedringhaus chipped in kills and a block. Landry finished the 25-10 set with a kill.
Set 2: Spartans answer back
Spearfish responded with its best set of the night. Meredith, Addie Keller and Billington scored the first three points for a 3-0 lead.
Central fought back behind Grace Steele, whose kill tied the set at 10. Keller’s kill put the Spartans back in front, and Meredith, Billington and an Emma Dahl ace followed to build a 15-11 lead.
Spearfish pulled away from there. Burry added a block and two aces, Millie Adams had a block, and Piper Jacobs closed the 25-17 win with an ace.
Set 3: Central closes strong
Keller started the third with a kill and back-to-back aces, but Central battled to the lead behind Tibke and Niedringhaus.
Spearfish rallied with kills from Markovetz, Keller, Meredith and Lily Rath to tie the set at 14. Keller’s kill gave the Spartans a 15-14 edge.
Landry took over late, recording four kills down the stretch as the Cobblers won 25-22 for a 2-1 match lead.
Set 4: Forcing a fifth
Facing elimination, Spearfish built an early 8-4 lead with kills from Rath and Billington and an ace from Markovetz. Markovetz added another ace, and Caitlin Lyon contributed one of her own.
Keller and Billington kept the Spartans in front through the middle of the set, while Burry and Adams added kills late. A Central serving error ended it at 25-20 and evened the match.
Set 5: Cobblers hold on
The deciding set went back and forth early. Billington had a block and multiple kills to keep Spearfish close, but Tibke and Landry combined for eight kills in the set.
Kills from Meredith and Billington late weren’t enough, and a Spearfish serving error gave Central the 15-11 win.
By the numbers
Billington finished with 18 kills on 41 attacks for a .293 hitting percentage. She added two solo blocks, one assisted block and six serve receptions for 21 points.
Keller had 13 kills on 40 attacks (.100) and a team-high four aces. She also had six digs, eight serve receptions and an assisted block for 18 points.
Meredith recorded seven kills on 18 attacks (.222), two solo blocks and a dig for nine points.
Burry led the team with 12 digs and 31 serve receptions. She added four kills (.083), two aces, two assists and two assisted blocks for eight points.
Rath had two kills, two solo blocks, an assisted block, an ace, four digs and six serve receptions for six points.
Adams finished with three kills, a solo block and an assisted block for five points.
Jacobs led the offense with 27 assists and added six digs and an ace. Markovetz had 14 assists, three aces, eight digs and a kill on three attacks (.333) for four points.
Lyon recorded two aces, six digs, nine serve receptions and an assist. Emma Dahl had three digs, 11 serve receptions and two assists, and Avery Dahl added five digs and 21 serve receptions.
As a team, Spearfish recorded 48 kills and 26 attack errors on 135 attempts for a .163 hitting percentage. The Spartans totaled 46 assists, 13 aces, 51 digs and 10 team blocks (seven solo, six assisted), with 93 serve receptions.
Spearfish hit .042 in the first set, .167 in the second, .171 in the third, .222 in the fourth and .211 in the fifth.
For Central, Tibke led all players with 21 kills. Landry added 15 kills.