RAPID CITY — Gayville-Volin and its nine players play the underdog card at the state volleyball tournament. 

While most teams fill the 20 allotted chairs for their benches, Gayville-Volin has just nine players on their varsity roster and there’s plenty of room to spare on the Raiders’ bench. 

And the small roster size puts a chip on their shoulders and they play with an underdog mentality, said coach Allison Jones. 

“We love using the underdog mentality,” Jones said. “It just gives us something to work for and we love the grind.” 

Jones said the only issue with the low numbers is not being able to fully practice 6-on-6 drills. It makes the coaching staff get creative in practice, making for some interesting practices for players and coaches. 

“We use a lot of props,” Jones said. “We use a big blocker in the way. We have coaches hitting on boxes and sometimes coaches jump in and play with the girls. So that’s how we make it work.” 

Jones said the numbers have dwindled in recent years, and there’s a handful of younger players on the junior varsity roster. But isn’t going to move someone up to varsity that’s not ready to compete. 

“I am not going to put anyone on varsity who I don’t think is ready to see the court,” Jones said. “So that’s kind of why the roster is so small. We do have other girls that do play on the JV squad. They’ve just got some developing to do until they’re varsity ready and hopefully next year they are.”

Gayville-Volin’s varsity roster breaks down to two seniors, four juniors and three sophomores. Jones said the team’s conditioning isn’t necessarily impacted by the small roster, and the multi-sport athletes are accustomed to it. 

“They’re playing sports all year around,” Jones said. “So they’re completely used to playing with lower numbers, especially the girls who play on the basketball team. I think there’s only going to be eight on that squad this year, too. So again, it’s going to be a low number.”

In the first round of the state volleyball tournament, the underdog Raiders battled with No. 2 seed Northwestern. Gayville-Volin dropped a five-set match against the Wildcats, but won the first set and forced a fifth set with a seven-point win.  

Despite the result, the Raiders gained a measure of respect from the Wildcats. Northwestern senior Ella Boekelheide called Gayville-Volin “scrappy,” and Wildcat coach Nora Groft also praised the Raiders. 

“Gayville-Volin is a great defensive team, we knew that coming in,” Nora Groft said. “That’s their strength and we pride ourselves on being an offensive team. It was our strength against their strength.”

Gayville-Volin defeated Harding County, 3-1, in the consolation semifinals Friday and will play Parkston in the consolation championship Saturday.