LADY SPARTANS RAISE OVER $4K AT ANNUAL CANCER AWARENESS EVENT
A large, spirited crowd decked out in pink filled the gym for the Lady Spartan volleyball game vs. Kimball/White Lake last Friday night. The game was held in conjunction with Volley for a Cure, a cancer awareness event that has raised thousands of dollars for Weskota Foundation's Cancer Awareness fund over the past decade. The fund provides cancer awareness, education and prevention-based activities in Jerauld County.
The whole event consisted of many fundraising efforts including: a quilt raffle, 50/50 raffle, bake sale, supper provided by FCCLA, more than 45 silent auction items, memory cards and t-shirt sales. These efforts led the Wessington Springs Volleyball Team to raise over $4,000 for the local Weskota Foundation’s Cancer Awareness fund.
Before the varsity game got underway, the Spartan Volleyball players, coaches and managers presented a carnation to someone affected by cancer.
The first set of the game was electrifying. Both the Spartans and Wildkats fought back and forth in a very close scoring set, ending in favor of the Lady Spartans winning 25-23.
The start of the second set was a bit rough for the Spartans who, at one point, were down 13-22. They fought back hard, but lost the set to the Wildcats 22-25.
Going into the third set, the Lady Spartans were determined. With the crowd and student section cheering them on, they went on to win the third set 26-24. Adrenaline filling the gym, the Lady Spartans were up two sets to 1.
With hopes to close out the game and win the fourth set, they worked tirelessly to end the game, but the Lady Wildkats didn’t let that happen. Winning the 4th set, 2225, the game was tied with each team winning two sets.
Going into the fifth set, both teams were determined to win the game. The Lady Spartans played their hearts out, but ultimately lost the set 10-15, making the Lady Wildkats victorious.
This loss is only one of eight on the Lady Spartan’s season. With a record of 22-8, Coach Lynn Neely is excited going into the post season.
“Our region playing starts on October 31, but because we are seeded third, we have a first round bye. We will play the 6th seed on November 1 in Armour, Neely explained. “If we win that game, we will play the winner of the second seed vs. the seventh seed. I believe we are peaking at the right time and going into regions, we are ready to play hard. We are trying to get things tightened up and play our best volleyball in the post season.”