SIOUX FALLS – Defending State B champion Chester Area came out swinging in the first round of the State Volleyball Tournament on Thursday morning at the Sanford Premier Center.

The Flyers flew past Castlewood 19-9, 25-19, 25-13 to start off the tourney.

Chester scored the first 11 points, forcing the Warriors to fight an uphill battle the entire first set, with a young squad which hasn’t had the experience in the state tournament quite yet.

“I don’t think we were mentally prepared for that game. We have a lot of young girls who haven’t been in the state tournament,” said Castlewood head coach Breanna DeKam. “It felt like déjà vu all over again. We played Chester last year, went down 11-0. There was a lot of frustration right at the beginning.”

In that first rotation, the Warriors were without Emerson Carter, who came in down 11-1, and the Warriors looked to put her to use right away. Although she didn’t get a kill immediately, she scored the third point for her team.

“I’m kind of our go-to with our stuff, so we usually look to me for momentum,” said Carter. “Kind of thought it would kind of start us off with the game, but that wasn’t quite the case.”

Castlewood gradually fought back and showed that they could play with the top-seeded team in the tournament. The Warriors earned their first lead of the match at 11-10 after a kill from Carter. However, it was mental mistakes that held them back during the match.

“I was proud that they came back in the second and were able to show people that we can play with that team,” said DeKam. “But again, we just let little mistakes get in our head and just kind of crumbled a little bit.”

Castlewood also struggled with defending a multitude of Flyer hitters, especially their two left-handed right sides, Lily Van Hal and Katelyn Schut, who accounted for 8 and 6 kills, respectively.

Van Hal, who is also a setter, proved to be a struggle for the Warriors.

“It’s the setter. She’s very deceptive. She’s a very good setter. Two lefty’s is hard to practice when we don’t have lefty’s,” DeKam said. “We tried to put up the blocks as best as we can, but they’re a very powerful team, so we just fell short today.”

Chester Area sophomore Jacy Wolf consistently hurt Castlewood with her down the line shots on the way to a team-leading 11 kills.

“Well, they were giving me line, and that’s my favorite hit, so it was a really good game for me,” said Wolf.

Chester was also opportunistic from the service line, putting up eight aces in the match. The Warriors had a hard time with serve receive, which limited their offensive production throughout the match.

“Definitely our serve receive. We couldn’t really get anything together on offense,” Carter said.

Although Castlewood struggled in that category, Carter excelled from the service line putting up two of the team’s three aces on the day, an area that the Warriors thought they could have capitalized a little more looking back.

“It was a good feeling,” said Carter. “Our serving is what could’ve won us that game I think.”

Chester will face Burke in the semifinals at 5 tonight. Although the Flyers are happy with their first-round win over Castlewood, they are not satisfied knowing they could play better.

“I think we will have to play a little better than that, and keep our heads up,” said Wolf. “I think we’ll be good, keep our pace.”

Castlewood will square off against Kadoka Area in a consolation match at 11 this morning.

“Getting turned around, getting our attitudes back,” said DeKam. “Making sure we’re as a team, ‘cause we can play better than that.”

Serving: Castlewood 3 aces (Emerson Carter 2, Nora Solberg 1); Chester Area 8 aces (Emmerson Eppard 3, Lily Van Hal 2, Alexis Bauman 1, Gracie Huntimer 1, Jaci Wolf 1).

Hitting: Castlewood 18 kills (Lilly Jacobsen 5, Claire Horn 3, Carter 3, Cassidy Kirwan 3, Ava Ruml 3); Chester Area 43 kills (Wolf 11, Eppard 10, Van Hal 8).

Setting: Castlewood 16 assists (Emery Larson 10, Kirwan 6); Chester Area 41 assists (Van Hal 27, Wolf 9).

Digs: Castlewood 28 (Ciara Kjetland 6, Larson 5, Dayton Knecht 4); Chester Area 38 (Huntimer 11, Eppard 10, Wolf 8)

Blocks: Castlewood 1 solo 2 assists (Jacobsen 1 solo 1 assist, Ruml 1 assist); Chester Area 10 assists blocks (Emilie Bleeker 2 assists, Van Hal 2 assists, Gracie Mersch 2 assists, Schut 2 assists).

Records: Castlewood 19-10; Chester 29-2.