Lady Hawks Are Conference Champs

The Broadus Lady Hawk volleyball team cemented their spot as 2022 District 4C regular season conference champions after beating Ekalaka last Thursday and Jordan on Saturday.

Facing Ekalaka in the final home match of the season, Broadus Head Coach Gordon Archer told us in an interview Monday that in his opinion, the Lady Hawk team played decent but not great against Ekalaka, and that Ekalaka had improved over the course of the season. Broadus was still able to beat Ekalaka in three games, 25-21, 25-19, and 25-19.

"It's looking like we'll face either Ekalaka or Wibaux at Districts, and we want to make sure we don't let up," he commented.

Lauryn Billing went 18 for 18 on serves and had 23 assists in the win. The team served 85% overall, with seven aces.

On Saturday at Jordan, Archer knew that the Lady Mustangs would be gunning for a win, but the Lady Hawks came ready to play, as Broadus took the first game by a close score of 25-22. Broadus pulled away in subsequent sets, winning the second 25-20 and the third 25-19 to seal the win.

"I thought we played much better against Jordan," Archer compared the win to the Ekalaka match. "We hit the ball better as a team; it was a good night."

With the win against Jordan, Broadus sealed a conference championship win. The team has one match left on the calendar in the regular season, this Thursday at Wibaux, and the Lady Hawks now set their sights on the future, as they look towards the potential of an undefeated season.

The 2016 Lady Hawks were the first volleyball team in school history to go undefeated in a regular season, as well as the first to win a conference championship, per a 2016 Examiner article. That team, also coached by Gordon Archer, went on to win third place at State.

Archer and his coaching staff have been pushing the Lady Hawks in practice to not let up and not let the minor errors turn into game changing events, as they look towards tournament season.

"I'm proud of how the girls played to win the conference championship – that was our first goal met. Now we need to continue to improve on things as we look towards tournaments, as those teams are going to bring their "A" games," Archer said as he looked towards the coming weeks.

Next week Broadus will travel to Glendive on October 27th and 28th for the 4C District Tournament. A bracket was not yet available at press time, as matches this weekend will help determine seeding at the tourney. Broadus will have a first round bye, due to their conference win and seven team bracket.