By Joe Kavanaugh

For 605 Sports

In the tale of the tape, Friday night’s semifinal matchup between the No. 2 seeded Hamlin Chargers and the No. 2 seeded Dell Rapid Lady Quarriers appeared an evenly matched contest. On the court, it proved to be anything but as Dell Rapids dominated play from the first whistle and controlled the match throughout in posting a 3-set, 25-11, 25-9, 25-16 victory. 

Hamlin’s only loss of the season came at the hands of the Lady Quarriers and Friday’s match was an ample demonstration of why.

Dell Rapids front row dominance proved to be the difference, intimating at times, and continually controlling the flow of play, The result: the combination of big swings and a solid front wall of blocks relegated Hamlin to playing defense and out of system.  

The first set established the pattern that would play out consistently throughout the match. After falling behind 4-2 in the first set, Dell Rapids broke the set open with an eight-point run midway through the set, a skein courtesy of big hits and intimidation at the net. 

“They’ve been that way all season and always one of our strengths,” Dell Rapid coach, Erica Fersdahl said. “That’s always been the offense we’ve had since I’ve been there. Big hitters and big weapons and big blocks have been our strengths for a long time.”

The Lady Quarriers took it up a notch in the second set behind the balanced front attack. Madelynn Henry led the team in kills on the night with 10, Sophi Randall added 8 kills and Lauryn Kloth and Karlie Ingalls had 5 apiece. 

Again, Hamlin showed early signs in the set of staying competitive but struggled to dig big hits and thereby unable to get into the system. 

Strong serving by Dell Rapids compounded the problem, a result clearly demonstrated in the second set as Dell Rapids dished out seven aces in the set including the final point of the set. 

“We work on serving a lot and the girls have put a lot of time in the gym working on that part of their game,” Fersdahl said. “That and defense have been our focus. We know the offense is there of we can show it.”

Though Hamlin came out more aggressively in the third and final set jumping out to a 10-6 lead. Dell Rapids knotted the score at 10-all and a couple of six-point runs to close out the match. 

“We came out and played like we can,” Fersdahl stated. “We have had our sets all season on playing tomorrow night and they came out and showed it.”

In addition to the big hitters, Sophi Randall aided the cause with 20 assists while Alaina Wolff led the back row with 9 digs. 

Addie Steffensen led Hamlin with 6 kills (the team had but 13 on the night). Issie Steffensen contributed 10 assists and Jayci Throwbridge had 8 digs. 

With the win, Dell Rapids (31-3) will face off against a familiar foe, Dakota Valley (31-5) for the Class A state title (6:45 p.m.). 

We know them very well, they are in our conference and we split with them during the season,” Fersdahl added. “I think we will celebrate tonight and then get ready. We know what we need to do. They are a tough team. They have good offensive wells as well. They serve well and play good defense. Our goal will be to play as well as we can.”

Hamlin (25-2) will face Sioux Falls Christian (26-13) at 5 p.m. for a shot at 3rd place hardware.