Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CHARLES CITY, Iowa — The Lake Mills volleyball team traveled to Charles City Wednesday night to take on Dike-New Hartford in its first appearance in the regional championship since 2017. 

Despite their best efforts, the Bulldogs were unable to match the play of the No. 3-ranked Wolverines, falling in straight sets 3-0. 

According to head coach Jim Boehmer, the Bulldogs played well through the opening portion of the first set before the Wolverines pulled away. Boehmer said it was a goal of the team’s to trade points with the Wolverines as much as they could, and they did that until midway through the set, when the Wolverines went on a long run. The run won it for the Wolverines 25-14. 

Lake Mills came back with a fury in set two and Boehmer said the team did a better job of handling the first ball and finding the hitters. However, the power of the Dike-New Hartford front line was still too much, as Lake Mills fell behind 2-0 after the 25-21 set loss. 

Boehmer said the second set took a lot of energy and emotion, which caused their third set to never really get off the ground. The Wolverines quickly put the set away 25-10 and won the match 3-0. 

Senior Kylie Greenfield led the team with seven kills and junior Brooke Bergo was close behind with six. Junior Kit Byers had three and sophomore Ella Stene had one. Junior Leah Moen had 14 assists and the Bulldogs were 44-47 from the service line, including one ace from Moen and junior Erica Jordan. 

Boehmer said if the season had to come to an end, losing to a top team in the state wasn’t a bad way to go. 

“You want to see the girls battle and they did that,” Boehmer said. “You want to see them pour their heart into what they do and they did that. I am extremely proud of their effort and how they came together. That’s what coaches hope to see. Measure it by wins and losses alone and you miss the best part of working with kids.”

The Bulldogs end their season with a 25-10 record and graduate four seniors from this year’s team. They return nine letter winners with a lot of depth and height, something Boehmer said the team isn’t normally known for.