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PAGE 4 ? FALL SPORTS 2015
PRESS & DAKOTAN ? PLAIN TALK
Volleyball: High-Powered Gazelles Set For Season
ROGELIO RODRIGUEZ
sports@yankton.net
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally
ran in the Aug. 25 edition of the Press &
Dakotan. It has been updated to reflect the
ongoing season.
Sophie Drotzmann (left) and Becky Frick (center) • Yankton
The Yankton Gazelles have their
eyes on an improved record.
Head coach Tiffany Beste, whose
team opens the season tonight (Tuesday) at Brandon Valley, finished 9-12
last season but returns a number of
starters who want to turn the corner
this year.
Last season, the Gazelles lost out to
Harrisburg in the 2AA District Championship match with a score of 3-1, and
missed out on the state tournament
after a loss to Watertown.
With last season still fresh in her
mind, Beste will be looking to show off
the quality of her squad on Sept. 1. With
a few weeks of practices already behind
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them, the team is showing their quality
and desire to win.
Beste has many talented players
who are willing to work hard on the
court and off of it. There is no lack of
commitment on this Gazelle team and
there are plenty of experienced players
to guide and mentor the younger ones.
“I think we have a lot of experience
and that is our biggest strength,” said
Beste.
To help her set an example, Beste
will have eight seniors at her disposal,
five of whom have seen previous varsity
playing time. The five returning varsity
seniors are Sophie Drotzmann, Ellie
Fedders, Hannah Bockholt, Danielle
Salvatori, and Becky Frick.
Frick will be the player to watch for
the Gazelles this season, and Beste it
looking to her to set the example for
the rest of the team.
“We are really looking for Becky to
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Volleyball
at Brandon Valley
at Watertown
vs. S.F. Lincoln
at Brookings
vs. Harrisburg
at Mitchell
at Pierre
vs. Huron
at S.F. Roosevelt
vs. Aberdeen Central
vs. Mitchell
vs. Brookings
at Harrisburg
vs. Brandon Valley
vs. Watertown
at Aberdeen Central
at S.F. O’Gorman
vs. Pierre
vs. S.F. Washington
at Huron
District 2AA Play-In
District 2AA Tourn.
District 2AA Tourn.
Region 1AA Game
State Tourn. at Sioux Falls
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ADMIT ONE
YHS VB | PAGE 5
YHS Dance Team Aiming High
BY DYLAN HUGGINS
sports@yankton.net
Yankton High School competitive dance coach Tiffany
Mueller said her girls have
high expectations coming in
to the season, after an 11th
place finish at the state meet
last year.
“The girls have been
working hard and we hope to
place in one of the categories”
Mueller said.
“Payton Pierce has been
in it for four years and has
helped the younger girls out a
lot on the team.”
The dance team has plenty
of upperclassmen this year to
lead the way.
Although Payton Pierce
is the only senior out, the
juniors had a strong turn out
for participants this year
including Cheree Becvar, Belle
Heine, Elle Hiltunen, Samantha
Kanaly, and Abby Rehurek.
The sophomores also
have multiple participants
for dance include Savannah
Frick, Taylor Kotschegarow,
Piper Mikkelsen, Emily Novak,
Maddie Smith, and Leah Waid.
Two freshmen are also on the
team. Tia Vlasman and Olivia
Liebig.
Mueller also mentioned
that sportsmanship is very
important to her as a coach.
“I tell the girls that it’s not
only important to represent
yourself and your school
well,” Mueller said. “But to be
a good example for the town
Cheer Team 2014 Routine • Yankton
‘Crowd Appeal’ A Focus For YHS Cheer
mentioned that senior leadership will also be important
with her team.
“There are three seniors
Yankton High School comand two are returning, while
petitive cheer coach Kerry
Svatos said one of her team’s the other one had an injury
goals this season is to do well but has competed in dance
before,” Svatos said.
with the crowd appeal.
“The upper classmen
“Crowd appeal makes up a
look to set an example and
large majority of the scorthe younger ones can watch
ing, so we’ll need to do well
them and learn.”
there,” she said.
The Gazelles will rely on
“Having high energy, and
being able to pick up and go. their senior trio of Dayjia
When we make a mistake we Castillo, Laurel Friedenbach,
and Alyssa Sealey, as well as
need to pick ourselves up
their strong junior class that
and move on.”
features Camille Friedenbach,
Svatos, whose Gazelles
finished 11th at the Class AA Kaitlin Guthmiller, Nikole
Knox, Kennedy Kolbi, Merlye
state competition last year,
Mason, Rose Ruffinot, Karly
Schaa, Emma Stewart, Carly
Turner, and Kaitlyn Wiener.
Also on the roster are
sophomores Kristyn Albrecht, Makenxie Delozier,
Taylor Kotschegarow, Abby
Kuipers, Brooklyn Maldonado, and Kendall Megard, as
well as eighth-graders Trinity
Goeman, and Larkyn Mason.
The Gazelles’ first competition is the Watertown Invite
in Watertown on Sept. 1 at
5:30 p.m.
Soccer
Benjamin said.
The Gazelles went 1-2 in
their first three matches, all in
ESD play.
BY DYLAN HUGGINS
sports@yankton.net
Dance Team 2014 Jazz Routine • Yankton
of Yankton as well.”
At last year’s Class AA
dance competition, the
Gazelles finished 11th overall,
highlighted by a seventh-place
finish in the Kick division.
Yankton’s first event of the
season will be on Sept. 1 in
Watertown for the Watertown
Invite. The event starts at 5:30
p.m.
ter.
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Comp. Cheer & Dance
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Watertown Inv.
5:30 p.m.
Yankton Inv.
5:30 p.m.
Brookings Inv.
11 a.m.
Huron Inv.
5:30 p.m.
O’Gorman Inv.
5:30 p.m.
Brandon Valley Inv.
5:30 p.m.
Mitchell Inv.
10:30 a.m.
ESD (Brandon)
5 p.m.
State Final at Brandon 11 a.m.
ADMIT ONE
Tennis: Young Gazelles Ready For Season
BY DYLAN HUGGINS
sports@yankton.net
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in
the Aug. 25 edition of the Press & Dakotan. It has
been updated to reflect the ongoing season.
One senior leads the way for the Yankton
Gazelles tennis team, who still have high expectations for this season, according to senior
Adrienne Kusek.
“We have two returning varsity players.
One saw a lot of varsity time and the other was
an alternate,” she said.
“We have high expectations for ourselves
because we set goals and we know what we
want to do.”
First-year head coach Kim Velk inherits a
team that finished 11th at the state tournament
last year. Her roster will also include junior Sophie Kouri, as well as sophomores Anne Knoff,
TENNIS | PAGE 5
“little things,” according to
Luken.
“We’ve done a lot of conditioning, more than last year,”
FROM PAGE 3
she said. “We’ve done a lot of
work on touches, looking for
said. “Haleigh Diede got some the open passes on the field.”
good playing experience last
Schuring expects a dogyear. She’ll have to step up on fight between the top three
defense. We got Holly Hicks
or four teams in the Eastern
to come back out for socSouth Dakota Conference for
cer – she’s going to be a great league honors.
defensive pickup for us.”
“Aberdeen and Pierre are
Other seniors on the roster solid, and Watertown brings
include Amber Simek, Natalie back a good defensive team,”
Ferris and goalkeeper Haley
he said. “We bring back good
Schild. Other juniors include
numbers as well.”
Becca Moser, Allyson Hento,
Though the team is
Madison Styles and Miranda
determined to get into the
Winterringer.
post-season, the focus doesn’t
With several new faces –
go past tonight’s opener.
and old faces who came back
“We need to take it one
out – for the Gazelles, a lot of
game at a time, focus on what
work has been put into the
we have to do each game,”
Velk
that our
involved in it
really make
the sport
worth it,” Velk
said. “They
were the ones
that brought
me out.”
Velk mentioned there are
things she can take from
coaching softball and implement them into tennis.
and making sure that the girls
understand when we need to
work hard and when we can
kind of relax a little bit more,”
she said.
“We need to fight for every
ball that we have and make
sure that we do the best we
can with every serve and
every volley.”
ter
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Sophie Kouri • Yankton
TABOR
Velk Embraces New Coaching Challenge LUMBER
BY DYLAN HUGGINS
est in tennis
“Work ethic is definitely
and the girls
something we can carry over COOP
sports@yankton.net
Although she is new to
coaching tennis, Kim Velk
is not new to being a head
coach.
Velk, a summer softball
coach who takes over the
Yankton Gazelles tennis
team this season, said those
participating in the sport is
what made her want to coach
the team.
“I’ve always had an inter-
ter.
9/11
9/18
9/25
10/2
10/9
10/16
10/22
vs. Gregory
at Kimball-White Lake (WL)
at Menno-Marion (MA)
vs. Colman-Egan (HC)
at Wolsey-Wessington (WO)
vs. Platte-Geddes
vs. Canistota
Cross Country
8/28
9/1
9/8
9/16
9/19
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
Beresford Inv.
10 a.m.
McCook Central-Montrose Inv.
4:15 p.m.
Scotland Inv.
4:15 p.m.
Flyer Inv. (Freeman)
1 p.m.
Wagner Inv.
9 a.m.
9/21
9/26
10/1
10/5
Bon Homme Inv.
Platte-Geddes Inv.
Cougar Inv. (Burke)
SESD (Tyndall)
Volleyball
8/25
8/27
9/1
9/8
9/10
9/15
9/17
9/19
9/22
9/24
2 p.m.
10 a.m.
4:15 p.m.
3 p.m.
at Winner
6:30 p.m.
vs. Avon
6:15 p.m.
vs. Andes Central-Dakota Christian
6:15 p.m.
at Vermillion
6:15 p.m.
vs. Platte-Geddes
6:15 p.m.
vs. Tripp-Delmont-Armour 6:15 p.m.
at Irene-Wakonda
6:15 p.m.
Cavalier Clash (Home)
8:30 a.m.
at Wagner
6:15 p.m.
at Burke-South Central (Bonesteel)
9/26
9/29
10/1
10/8
10/13
10/15
10/20
10/23
10/24
6:15 p.m.
Pentagon Inv. (Sioux Falls)
TBA
vs. Dakota Valley
6:15 p.m.
vs. Menno
6:15 p.m.
vs. Freeman
6:15 p.m.
at Scotland
6:15 p.m.
vs. Corsica-Stickney
6:15 p.m.
vs. Parkston
6:15 p.m.
vs. Viborg-Hurley (H)
6:15 p.m.
SESD (Platte)
TBA
Competitive Cheer
8/29
9/12
10/3
10/17
10/19
Gregory Inv.
Winner Inv.
Dakota Valley Inv.
Platte-Geddes Inv.
Bon Homme Inv.
11 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
noon
noon
6 p.m.
2015 SEASON PASS • ADMIT ONE • FOLLOW YOUR TEAM AT WWW.YANKTON.NET