Bulldogs head into district tournament as number two seed

The Carter County Bulldogs lady volleyball team will head to this weekend's district tournament at the number two seed. The girls hadn't lost a conference game to any opponent except for rival Wibaux all season until last Friday in Terry when they slipped against the number four seed (Terry).

On Friday in Terry the girls also played a match against Nashua. That match went rather smoothly, as Blue took all three sets; 25-18, 25-17, and 25-13. Claire Callahan led the team in aces with three of the team's nine. Tori Tooke led in kills with eight, and assists (14), while Kennedy Tooke tallied eight of the team's 24 digs.

Against the Terry Terriers, the girls struggled in the first set, losing 22-25. Blue seemingly got back on track in the second, defeating Terry by a wide margin (25-23), but stumbled again in the third, losing 18-25. Down two sets to one, CCHS couldn't regain any momentum. They lost the final set 21-25, and the match in four sets.

Hannah LaBree had a good day serving, tallying three aces out of the team's 8. Tori Tooke again led the team in kills, this time with 9. She also led the team in assists with 12. Callahan had an impressive 8 of the team's 9 blocks and Kennedy Tooke had 12 of 47 digs.

The next evening the girls played home games against Circle. It was senior night.

It took five sets for the CCHS junior varsity team to defeat Circle, but they were up to the task. The girls took the first set 25-14, lost the second 19-24, won the third 15-12, lost the fourth 12-15, and won the fifth 15-9. Ella Rucker led the team in aces with 6 of 15, and tied for the lead in kills (5) with Jordan King. King also tied for the lead in digs (9) with Kari Kittelmann. Jaelee Strangford had 9 of the team's 17 assists.

CCHS varsity struggles continued early in their match versus the Wildcats on Saturday as they lost the first set 25-27. It took some time, but the girls righted the ship after that. They narrowly defeated Circle in sets two and three (25-23 and 26-24) before cruising to a victory in the fourth, 25-9. The win closed the girls' regular season.

Tori Tooke again led the team in kills with 13, and digs with 20. As a team, Blue totaled an impressive 50 kills and 74 digs. Callahan led in blocks with 4 and tied for the lead in aces with Hannah LaBree (3). Whitney Kittelmann totaled 19 of the team's 41 assists.

This Thursday the girls will open their District 2C Tournament play when they take on the number seven seed, Jordan. The match is set to begin at 10:30 a.m.