In what has become one of the most impressive runs in high school volleyball history for South Dakota, Harrisburg’s run continues. The Tigers defeated O’Gorman 3-0 in Saturday’s championship match to win their fourth straight ‘AA’ title.
Along with having the hardware to back up their accomplishments, Harrisburg’s win-loss record in recent years is also impressive. They’ve now won 111 matches of their past 113. Earlier this season, the Tigers took their 87-match win streak on the road to a national invitation tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. They went 5-2 over that stretch, with both losses coming to highly ranked national teams. Since then, they’ve now won 24-straight.
With expectations of a four-peat at a top-tier level, Harrisburg still had to go out and deliver when it mattered most. They beat Mitchell in the quarterfinals and took down Watertown in the semis. Then, in the championship round, they topped O’Gorman – all three being sweeps. Sweeps have been the normal for the Tigers this season as they only lost two sets to South Dakota teams all year.
“Some pressure, but more just a privilege and just how to challenge these guys. They’re that good. They work hard; they’ve earned it,” said Harrisburg head coach Ronette Costain. “I know that sounds cocky, but I can’t say enough about what these kids do, so I’m not going to take anything away from what they’ve created and what they’ve become.”
During the championship match, the Tigers were led by two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, and senior, Gabi Zachariasen, who had 15 kills on the attack against O’Gorman and had three serve aces.
“It’s insane that we’ve got three, but to finish it with four, that was the end goal this season. It wasn’t to stay undefeated, it was to finish,” told Zachariasen. “I think we really did that and this whole tournament we stayed focused and we had the common goal of winning and every single person contributed to that.”
Next season, Zachariasen will take her talents to the University of South Dakota where she’ll continue her volleyball career at the collegiate level.
Other contributors for the Tigers on Saturday night were Julia Masselink, who had 12 kills. Josalyn Samuels recorded 33 set assists, and then defensively it was Lindsay Langner leading in the digs category with 14.
“We just played fundamental, solid volleyball. I thought everything from our serve receive, getting us in system so we could run things, it kept O’Gorman guessing,” told coach Costain. “We knew we needed to hold their middles accountable, so they couldn’t come over and key on our outsides.”
It was a dominating performance from start to finish for Harrisburg. The Tigers took the first and second set 25-16 and then won the third set 25-13. But coming into the title match, Harrisburg’s team remain focused.
“Well, we talk about, you’ve got to respect everybody. O’Gorman’s a solid volleyball team. They’re fundamentally sound. They’ve got some big athletes, a ton of athletes who also play a ton of volleyball and also work incredibly hard in the off-season,” said Costain. “We just knew you can’t take anything for granted and you’ve got to know your assignments.”
Harrisburg will graduate Lindsay Langner, Emma Masselink, Gabi Zachariasen, and Kya Keegan this spring.
