VCHS Volleyball Heads to 2020 State Tournament

Special to Times-Record The match was one that would’ve been even better with a crowd— the kind of high-stakes, high-action, adrenalinepumping, back-and-forth game that has both sides’ fans on their feet.

Fargo Shanley Deacons and Valley City HiLiners met at West Fargo High School in their East Region State Qualifying Match to battle for a trip to the FargoDome.

In set one, the Hi-Liners put up solid blocks at the net, but still struggled against Shanley’s offense. The Hi-Liners followed the Deacons, who maintained a small lead throughout the majority of the set. Shanley went on a scoring run at the close of the set, ending it 25-20 Deacons.

At the beginning of set 2, the Hi-Liners were clearly getting into their groove, playing with better organization and power. Valley City grabbed a small lead early and maintained it until the Deacons tied it up at 12. From there, it was a back-and-forth game with long volleys, big swings, great digs and ever-changing leads. There were ties at 13 and 14, but Valley City broke free and put things at 1614 shortly before grabbing two more points for their lead from a solid block and a kill. The Deacons answered back, but they didn’t have enough. Hi-Liners took set two 25-20.

Set three was another tug-of-war, with ties at 7, 8 and 14. The Deacons took control after the 14-14 tie, until Valley City went on a 7-1 run to jump into the lead, 23-19. With a block and a kill, Valley City clinched set three, up in the game 2-1.

Shanley scored first in set four. As the Deacons added points, Valley City made sure they were never far behind. The Hi-Liners put things into high gear to push their lead to 12-7, then to 14-9. The Deacons stayed hot on Valley City’s heels, tying things at 16. Then the ties began to really add up—with one at 18, 20, 21, 22. The last tie, 2222, was the 11th of the set. The Deacons never gave up their lead and took set four 25-22.

It was one heck of a fifth set, neither team ready to end their season or give up a shot at the state tournament just yet. Valley City quickly jumped to 3- 0. Though the Deacons kept pace, they didn’t grab the lead until a kill put them up 7- 6. It was tied at 7 and then again at 8, at which time the Deacons took off and made their lead 13-9. Valley City took a time out and returned to the court ready to claw their way back. It worked, too, because the Hi-Liners went on a 5-point run to grab the fifth set 15-13, winning the match 3-2 and headed to state. This is the third time in the past 4 years that Hi-Liner Volleyball has made it to the state tournament. They head to the FargoDome as East Region #4, where they’ll play on Thursday, November 19th, in the Quarterfinals versus Bismarck Century (W1). Catch the game on BEK Sports East & BEK Sports West.