SIOUX FALLS – A total of 17 aces propelled Hamlin past familiar foe Sioux Valley in the first round of the Class A State Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night.

The Chargers defeated their conference foe for the second time this season 25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-23 at the Sanford Premier Center.

In a high emotion game, the Chargers kept their composure throughout the match.

“It was exciting, it was high emotion. I mean, it’s Sioux Valley, we knew it was going to be all of those things,” said Hamlin coach Ashley Heinrich. “We’re just veteran enough to kind of keep our calm and kind of weather the storm at times. Yeah, it was good overall.”

The Chargers have been focusing on their serving all year long, and it definitely showed in the first round match.

“That’s kind of what I preach in my gym if you will, is it’s serve and pass,” said Heinrich. “I think unofficially, my stat keeper had us for like 19 aces. I mean, I’m not going to lie, that’s pretty solid.”

What also played into the success for the Chargers at the service line was their confidence going into the match.

“I feel like confidence is definitely key there,” said senior middle hitter Addie Steffensen. “We all came in confident knowing that we can, and so that fell in the service line, and we got it done there.”

Not only were the Chargers successful at the service line, they were extremely efficient offensively at the net, with 56 kills from four major players. Addie Steffenson had 20, Addison Neuendorf followed with 19, Jo Steffensen contributed eight and Addelyn Jensen added six.

“Obviously, Addie Neuendorf is usually our big go-to and it was really awesome to see that she was still very much offensive tonight, but we had like Jo Steffensen and my little freshman Addie Jensen really kind of come in clutch tonight,” Heinrich said. “Addie Steffensen out of the middle also did a great job, so I think we really kind of got the ball all over the place which helped us get around their blocks.”

The Chargers knew they had to prepare for the strong attack from Sioux Valley’s Kaedyn Sapp and Adison Renkly. Hamlini was able to hold Sapp to 18 kills and Renkly to 13. Sapp had 11 kills in the final set.

“When you got Sapp and Renkly, that can take big swings on us. Now obviously there was a moment where they were getting some of those,” said Heinrich. “Defensively, we were in the right spots. I mean we had some awesome digs. You know, again, Sapp, she’s a great hitter. She’s going to get her kills, but I do feel like we neutralized her enough to give ourselves the advantage for that.”

The Chargers also had trust in each other to do their job on the defensive end to combat the strong hitters on the Cossack side of the net.

“I think it was just us trusting each other. Knowing that we can do it,” said Addie Steffensen. “I feel like trust is very big there and knowing that we got it and that we’re going to go for it.”

In the final set of the match, the Chargers had jumped out to an early 12-4 lead. However, Sioux Valley clawed back in the game staying within striking distance until the score was tied at 21-21.

The Cossacks fought off two match points before Addie Steffensen closed out the match with her final kill of the night.

“There’s a part of me that’s like ‘Well we had them up by how many points and let them back in the game.’ But at the end of the day we won, and we’re going to focus on the positive and so it was awesome,” said Heinrich. “We’re all cheering and hugging, and it was great. They just finished. They’re veterans.”

After closing out the match, Addie Steffensen noted the rivalry between the two teams and how bad she wanted this one in the first round of the state tournament.

“It was very high emotions. Sioux Valley’s definitely our rival for our school in a game that no matter where we are. That’s a game we want to win the most,” said Steffensen. “We played great.”

Hamlin will face another familiar foe in the semis when it takes on Dell Rapids at 6:45 tonight. The Quarriers handed Hamlin its only loss of the year earlier this season.

“I mean we played Dells earlier. Our one loss was to Dells. We’re hoping for a battle,” Heinrich said. “Obviously, we’re hoping we can beat them and move on to a state championship. But, it’s just one point at a time, and hopefully that works out in our favor.”

Serving: Sioux Valley 4 aces (Caitlin Russell 1, Machaela Gerasch 1, Elise Lemme 1, Sapp 1); Hamlin 17 aces (Issie Steffensen 6, Addie Steffensen 4, Jo Steffensen 3).

Attacking: Sioux Valley 43 kills (Kaedyn Sapp 18, Addison Renkly 13, Keyra Kruse 5); Hamlin 56 kills (A. Steffensen 20, Addie Neuendorf 19, J. Steffensen 8)

Setting: Sioux Valley 41 assists (Gerasch 19, Sunny Hesby 17); Hamlin 56 assists (I. Steffensen 48).

Digs: Sioux Valley 64 (Rusell 16, Gerasch 12, Sapp 10); Hamlin 72 (Neuendorf 16, A. Steffensen 15, J. Steffensen 14, Jayci Trowbridge 14)

Blocks: Sioux Valley 6 assists (Kruse 2, Renkly 2, Lacey Langland 1, Kailey Cradduck 1); Hamlin 2 assists (Kayde Nebel 1, Jensen 1).

Records: Sioux Valley 24-7; Hamlin 25-1.