RAPID CITY – The state tournament didn’t open the way Colman-Egan had imagined when the Hawks lost to Castlewood in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. But in the same way they made coming back in their matches one of the trademarks of their season, they rebounded one more time, defeating Faulkton Area and Wolsey-Wessington over the final two days of the tournament to win the consolation championship.
“It’s just a true testament to show that these girls never give up,” Colman-Egan volleyball coach Abigail Dockter said. “No matter what the situation is or what the point differential is, we’ve had instances like this throughout the season where teams have been up on us and we thought we were going to lose…and we figure out how to work together to figure out a way to win.”
The Hawks’ run through the state tournament began with a disappointing loss to Castlewood on Thursday night but Dockter believes the loss put the rest of the tournament into perspective.
“I know the girls were pretty deflated because we had never lost [to Castlewood] all year,” Dockter said. “We just tried to remind the girls that this game was behind us and we were going to have two more games regardless, so you can either be pumped about it or kind of give up on the tournament.”
Sixth-seeded Castlewood used a fast start in the first two sets and a rally in the fourth set to upset third-seeded Colman-Egan in the quarterfinals.
The Hawks started fast, scoring four of the first five points in the first set but Castlewood took control with a 9-2 run to take the lead. The Warriors jumped ahead 17-11 later in the set before C-E went on a 9-4 run to cut the lead down to 21-20. But Castlewood scored three straight points to earn set point and came away with a 25-21 win.
The Warriors carried their momentum by opening the second set with a 7-1 run but the Hawks responded with a 9-2 run that gave them a 10-9 lead on a kill by Elaina Rhode. Castlewood had another response, however, scoring the next five points to regain the lead and winning the second set 25-20.
The Warriors were on the verge of putting the match away with a 7-0 lead in the third set but Lee took over to will the Hawks back into it. Her back-to-back kills helped C-E tie the set at 13-13 before Presley Luze’s ace gave C-E a 14-13 lead. With the set tied at 23-23, Lee collected her seventh kill of the set to give C-E set point and an eventual 26-24 win to extend the match.
But despite a quick start and a 12-8 lead in the fourth set, the Hawks couldn’t keep the momentum going, falling into a tie at 23-23. A block by Kelly Goens gave Castlewood matchpoint at 24-23 and Brynlee Landis’s shot went long to allow the Warriors to complete the upset.

Landis and Lee led Colman-Egan with 15 kills each while  Rhode had eight kills and Anna Zwart had six kills. Lanie Mousel had 27 assists while Kaylee Voelker had 19 assists while Lee had a team-high 20 digs for the Hawks.
Luze had 13 digs for the Hawks, Voelker had 12 while Mousel and Landis had 11 digs each. Lee had a team-high six blocks while Voelker had four blocks and Rhode and Zwart had two blocks each. Landis also had one block.
Lee had two aces while Voelker and Mousel had one ace each.
C-E went on to rebound but it didn’t come easy beginning with Friday’s matchup with Faulkton Area.
The Hawks got off a tough start against the Trojans, dropping the first set 25-12 and the second set 25-18. But C-E flipped the script with a 25-10 victory in the third set and a 25-23 victory in the fourth set to extend the match.
Although it appeared their comeback would come up short down 14-10 in the final set, the Hawks made a run and went on to win the set 19-17 to advance to Saturday’s consolation championship.
The Hawks fell into another early hole, dropping the first set 25-22 and the second set 25-20. C-E responded with a dominant 25-12 win in the third set before forcing a fifth set with a 25-20 win in the fourth set.
Just like the Faulkton match, the Hawks fell behind 10-5 in the final set but went on a 10-1 run to win the match and the consolation title and put a positive spin on the weekend.
“If you win fifth place, you still get a trophy,” Doctor said. “We’ve had three other trips to state but we’ve only won one trophy and the other two are plaques. At the same time, second, third, fourth and fifth place all end up with the same record where you win two games and lose one, so fifth place is still important and it just changed our perspective and created that new goal.”
Daniela Lee had 13 kills, 32 digs, three aces and two blocks against Faulkton Area while Anna Zwart had eight kills, three blocks and two digs. Elaina Rhode had seven kills, 13 digs and an ace.
Kaylee Voelker had 29 assists, 16 digs and two kills. Lanie Mousel had 17 assists, 11 digs two kills and an ace. Presley Luze had 28 digs and an ace.
Landis led the Hawks against Wolsey-Wessington with a team-high 20 kills with eight digs, three blocks, two aces and an assist. Lee had 15 kills, 10 digs, 10 blocks and an ace.
Rhode had six kills, six blocks and five digs. Mousel had a team-high 25 assists with seven digs and two blocks. Voelker had 21 assists, 14 digs and eight blocks while Luze had 17 digs and two aces. Zwart had four kills with four blocks.
Kailynn Dorris led the Lady Warbirds with 22 kills while Kendal Uttecht had a team-high 21 digs and 32 assists. Roxy Glanzer had four blocks and Tatum Luce had three aces.
In the end, C-E finished the regular season with a 30-6 record and a new trophy to put in the case. Along with their ability to never give up, Dockter also called the Hawks “a fun group of kids” to work with this season.
“They just have so much energy and it’s fun to see,” Dockter said. “They show it a lot in practice and I always tell them that’s the most important part of the game. …It was just so awesome to see them come together and have so much fun working hard for each other and I’m just super proud of them.”