DARLINGTON — The Redbirds lost Sept. 26 against head coach Danielle Duerst’s former team, the Platteville Hillmen in a nonconference match. The 3-1 defeat was the first of the season for Darlington.
“Going into Saturday’s game I was nervous. I knew what Platteville had, but I also knew what we had to do to play with them,” admitted Duerst, who led Platteville over the past three seasons before moving on to coach at Darlington this year. “I am very happy the way we played Platteville. It was a battle for both teams all four games. We played tough and we played smart. I knew we weren’t going to overpower them, so we just had to play smarter than them and play good defense. We talked about serving tough to try to get them out of system as much as possible, which I think we did well.”
Senior Maddie Cooley tallied six attack kills, one block kill and four service aces to lead the Hillmen over the Redbirds by a score of 31-29 in set one.
The hosts got to match point four times— the last on a kill by Sydney Beasley to take a 29-28, but Platteville used a kill by senior Madison Devlin to tie the score and then got an ace from Cooley and a game-winning kill from senior Alayna Digman to end the thrilling marathon affair.
Darlington came right back to take set two by a score of 25-22 to even the match at 1-1. A kill by junior Taylor Wedig got the ‘Birds to match point, and a well-placed tip kill by Beasley seal the victory.
The Hillmen led the entire way in set three to regain the advantage in the match with a 25-21 decision, and the guests fought off a late surge by the ‘Birds in set four to secure a 3-1 win with a 28-26 decision.
Darlington trailed 16-22 in set four until a four-point service run by senior Laura Sturtz sparked a rally. The Hillmen got to match-point on a kill by Devlin, however the Redbirds used kills by sophomore Jaylyn Schwartz and freshman Jaidyn Evenstad and an unforced Platteville error to grab a 26-25 lead.
A kill by junior Catherine Tashner put the Hillmen back into the lead at 27-26, and then a bet violation by the Redbirds gave the guests the winning point.
Beasley finished with 12 kills, five blocks, nine digs and two aces and Wedig contributed nine kills, six blocks and two aces for the ‘Birds.
Sturtz dished out 23 assists and tallied 11 digs, while Kaylyn McGuire provided 11 digs and two aces and Kaylee Schwartz added 10 digs for the hosts. Evenstad had four blocks and two aces in the match.
The Sept. 24 match against Mineral Point was postponed due to health concerns following a couple of positive Covid-19 cases announced at Darlington Elementary/Middle School. No make-up date was announced at press time.
Darlington closes the SWAL regular season with a match at Boscobel on Oct. 1. The SWAL tournament begins on Tuesday, Oct. 6, with the top-seed in the conference hosting the No. 4-seed, and the No. 2-seed host the No. 3-seed. The winners play at the home of the higher seed on Oct. 8, while the losing teams meet at the home of the higher seed.
Darlington has also scheduled three non-conference matches against Southwest Wisconsin Conference teams. The Redbirds will travel to Prairie du Chien Oct. 5, host Dodgeville Oct. 10, and then play at Lancaster Oct. 17.
