Wildcats sweep Gilmanton, settle for second place

With 18 services aces, the Blair-Taylor volleyball team cruised to a win over Gilmanton as they finished second in the 2022 Dairyland Conference standings. 

The match against Gilmanton was fairly one-sided as B-T outscored the host school 75-40 to finish the regular season with a win. That victory put the Wildcats at 9-1 in the Dairyland Conference, 18-6 overall, as they finished behind only Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran (10-0) in the DC standings. 

Tournament play began on Tuesday for the Wildcats as they were awarded the fourth seed and hosted DC rival (13) Whitehall on Tuesday of this week. The winner of that match will play the winner of the match between (5) Spring Valley and (12) Osseo-Fairchild with the highest seed hosting on Thursday. The regional final is scheduled for Saturday with Westby (29-1) as the top seed in the bracket. 

B-T   25 25 25

GIL   10 18 12

The Wildcats controlled the match from the service line as they ran away with a three-set sweep.

Of B-T’s 18 aces, Madison Goodbear had six, Paige Kelly, five; Lindsay Steien, four and Kierstyn Kindschy, three. That helped B-T dominate the first set with a 15-point win before taking the second by seven points and the third by 13. 

Abby Thompson and Andrea Waldera both had 10 kills, while Steien and Kindschy had seven and Lydia Frederixon finished with two. Goodbear led the team with 30 set assists. Steien also had two blocks, while Waldera and Kindschy each had one.

Kelly and Thompson both had 12 digs, Steien added 11.