The way the season had gone, it felt like the SoDak 16 match would have to go five sets for the Pierre Governors. However, the result wasn’t what the Governors would be hoping for as Aberdeen Central would come back and reverse sweep Pierre to advance to the state tournament.
Scores of the match were 26-24, 25-12, 23-25, 21-25 and 8-15 as the Governors finish the season at 10-11 just points short of a third straight trip to the state tournament. Pierre was dominant in the first two sets and would win an extra point set for the first time since the first game of the season. Abigail Kropp and Campbell Boddicker would each have seven kills of their 16 and 14 total in the first two sets. Then in set three, Aberdeen Central would start to turn the tide and would lead 15-9 over Pierre before Campbell Cronin would step to the service line and knock in six aces on nine straight points for the Govs. But it would be the Golden Eagles to still win the set 25-23 and the momentum would be grabbed and turned into a set four and five win to end the Govs year. Reese Terwilliger also had 11 kills for Pierre while Cronin would finish with a total of eight aces. Freshman Lauryn Burckhard would have the team high 15 kills for the Golden Eagles and Ashley Wangler would finish with 10.
Aberdeen Central will face Harrisburg in the 1-8 matchup next week Thursday in the first round of the state tournament. For the Governors, seniors, Makayla Sherwood, Aleise Christopherson, Terwilliger, Boddicker, Kropp, Jordan Mayer and Lainey Reinke’s volleyball careers will come to an end.
