7xm 44

7xm 44

SIOUX FALLS — After the Dakota Valley High School volleyball team defeated Sioux Falls Christian in the Class A state tournament semifinals, Claire Munch’s voice was so horse it was barely audible. Her game speaks volumes by itself, but the junior outside hitter’s voice was a casualty of spending the match trying to pick her teammates up. Time and time again this season, it seemed as if the bigger the hole DV found itself in, the more the team was capable of overcoming. The Class A championship match, however, presented No. 4 Dakota Valley a bit of a different challenge. While the Panthers spent the quarterfinals and semifinals overcoming double-digit deficits and lopsided set losses to reach the title match, No. 3 Dell Rapids gave DV a series of speed bumps that, in the end, proved too much for the Panthers to overcome as Dell Rapids seemingly held a one-point lead all match to capture the Class A state championship in four sets ( at the Denny Premier Center in Sioux Falls on Saturday. “These girls have given it their all since the beginning of the season,” said DV head coach Erik Krenz. “They’ve gone all a coach could ever ask for. That’s what meant the most to me. They were willing to do whatever it took on the court, and they did that tonight.” Claire Munch finished the match with 24 kills, tied with Dell Rapids’ Madelynn Henry for the match high. The DV junior was a star all season for the Panthers and shined even brighter on the state’s biggest stage as she and younger sister Madelyn, a sophomore setter for Dakota Valley, were named to the Class A all-tournament team. During DV’s stay at the tournament, Claire had 79 kills and Madelyn had 110 assists in 13 sets played in Sioux Falls. Claire ended the season with well over 500 kills for the campaign, and Madelyn went over 1,000 assists for the Panthers in her first season as the team’s primary distributor. The runner-up finish was DV’s best since winning its last second-place finish in 2020, and the Panthers end the season with a record of 31-6. Dell Rapids (32-3) opened Set 1 of the championship with a 5-1 lead but that was quickly closed to one as Claire Munch’s first kill made it 5-4 Dell Rapids, and the set was played with a four-point margin until the Quarriers scored five of the last six points. That would provide Dell Rapids a template to win the second set, too. True to form, DV bounced back and took the third frame as Claire, junior Samantha Kimbell and senior Cameryn Sommervold registered kills to put away the set win. DV got the set rolling with a block by senior Emersen Mead and an ace by senior Reagan Granstrom. Sommervold, Mead (the team’s two starting middle blockers) and Granstrom (the starting libero) represent the biggest holes that DV will suffer to graduation. All three were multi-year starters. The DV senior class also includes setter Jacee Squier and hitter Hailey Severson. Set 4 was tight early, but Dell Rapids put too many hurdles in front of the Panthers after Henry and the Quarriers’ other hitters became more and more effective. Dell Rapids setter Sophi Randall finished with 40 assists. The Quarriers were also successful at the net as they went for nine total blocks to DV’s three — an area that largely went in favor for much of the season behind the play of Mead and Sommervold. For the season DV’s pair of senior middles each finished with over 100 kills for the campaign and Granstrom notched over 350 digs. “Losing our two middles and our libero is going to be really, really big and difficult to replace,” Krenz said. “The senior class on this team has not only shined in their individual roles as well as their ability to embrace the team game.” As the season’s accomplishments for the Panthers include winning the Dak XII conference tournament and spending a few weeks of the season ranked No. 1 in Class A, ending with a state title game appearance provided an inspiration for the next generation of Panther volleyball stars. And the future is certainly bright as the Munch sisters stand to head into the 2025 as two of the state’s top at their positions. DV’s other set of siblings, junior Samantha Kimbell and sophomore defensive specialist Coryn, also emerged this season as major contributors. Samantha finished with the second-most total kills on the squad this season with over 300 while Coryn registered nearly 200 digs. Mead’s serving was also a huge asset for the Panthers. The four Munch and Kimbell sisters, Mead and Granstrom combined for over 250 aces this season, and the club also has an asset in freshman hitter Aubree Worden, who had over 150 kills this season. “We have a lot of young players,” Krenz said. “Throughout the year, we had matches where some players were on or off, but during (the state tournament) everyone was in the zone and really played their best. “It’s all about inspiration. There’s a trickle-down effect. The younger kids were here and saw these girls rocking the house, and now they’ll want to be just like them and hopefully that inspires them to stay in the sport, stay with the program and get here too, someday.”

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MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola said he expected a slip in Manchester City’s standards sooner or later but even he has been shocked by the English champions’ implosion in a five-game losing streak. After losing four consecutive matches for the first time in his decorated managerial career, Guardiola backed himself to turn the situation around by signing a two-year extension to his contract on Thursday. Just 48 hours later, the positivity that deal created was punctured as City were humbled 4-0 by Tottenham to lose at home for the first time in 52 matches. A side that has created history by winning an unprecedented four Premier League titles is now caught in a negative spiral. Guardiola conceded his star-studded squad are “fragile” and low on confidence after a run that also included defeats to Bournemouth and Brighton, either side of a 4-1 Champions League thrashing by Sporting Lisbon. “Being here for eight years, I knew that sooner or later we would drop,” said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss. “Of course we never expect to lose three Premier League games in a row. In that time we always expected a drop, but we were incredibly consistent. “However, we cannot deny the reality that sometimes in football and sometimes in life it’s here.” There remains plenty of time in the season for Guardiola’s men to arrest their decline. However, there are serious questions whether they have the personnel or physical capacity to do so after years of going deep into the well every season. — AFP Before kick-off against Tottenham, Rodri was welcomed back to the Etihad for the first time since winning the Ballon d’Or, awarded to the world’s best player over the previous year. The Spanish midfielder’s name was lit up in fireworks and a giant carpet spread across the entire pitch. Yet, it was once the action began that City really showed just how fundamental he has been to their success in recent years. Rodri suffered a season-ending knee injury in September’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal and City’s title aspirations looked to have disappeared with him. Since the start of last season, City have lost once in 53 matches with Rodri and nine in 25 without. Reliance on Haaland Kevin De Bruyne made his return from a two-month injury layoff in the closing stages against Spurs but at 33 is now regularly sidelined by fitness issues. And the pace that made captain Kyle Walker one of the Premier League’s finest ever right-backs is now beginning to fade as Timo Werner tore past the England defender to set up Brennan Johnson’s fourth goal for Tottenham. The decision to sell Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for £82 million ($103 million) and not replace the Argentine looks increasingly misguided. There is little back up to Erling Haaland as a goal threat. The Norwegian has carried the burden with 15 goals, while no one else has more than three. “This is a City side currently in decline,” said former Manchester United captain and pundit Gary Neville. “It seems madness, when you think about what they’ve achieved. They’re easy to play against and teams are encouraged when playing them. The vulnerabilities are clear for everyone to see.” Worse could be to come as City travel to Premier League leaders Liverpool next weekend. Defeat at Anfield, where City have not won in front of a crowd since 2003, could see the defending champions fall 11 points behind the Reds. Guardiola conceded that would be too great a margin to bridge but his immediate priority is on stopping the rot against Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday. City are well-placed to make the knockout stage but have plenty of work to do to guarantee a place in the last 16 via a top-eight finish in the new format of Europe’s top club competition. “There are many things that are going to happen that we need to do to break the results as much as possible to get more positive and confident,” he added. “We are not used to losing so many games in a row. That’s happened. We have to do everything now to change, especially the next one.”- AFP

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Did not endorse anybody so how can my factor fail, asks Jarange Patil