Davies earns sweep of West Fargo to reach ND AA volleyball state title game

BISMARCK Fallon Passanante said on Thursday that the Fargo Davies volleyball team wanted to earn some redemption against West Fargo after the Packers swept the Eagles in last week’s East Region volleyball semifinals. Davies had its shot in the North Dakota Division AA state semifinals Friday and did exactly that, rolling to a 3-0 sweep of West Fargo at the Bismarck Event Center to advance to the state championship match for the second time in program history. “It just means so much,” Eagles senior middle hitter Ava Bolton said. “We’ve been together for so long and we’re all literally best friends. It’s literally amazing and we’re so excited.” Set scores were 25-22, 25-21, 25-18. Davies senior hitter Ava Leingang threw down the final two kills of the third set with the last securing match point. Leingang finished with seven kills, only trailing senior teammate Passanante, who led the way with a game-high 21. “It’s really exciting,” Leingang said. “It’s really special for us and this team to go through this together.” East No. 3 seed Fargo Davies (30-7) will now play in Saturday’s Division AA title match against East No. 2 West Fargo Sheyenne (32-7) with first serve slated for 8 p. m. The Eagles are seeking their second state championship, while the Mustangs go for their third in the last four years. “It’ll be a fun game,” Davies head coach Stephanie Oliver said. “It’s going to be some fun volleyball. We’ve seen them quite a bit this year. It’s going to be a tough battle for sure, but I think we can go all the way here.” A magical postseason run will end short of a state title for East No. 1 West Fargo (27-8), which will face West No. 1 Bismarck Century (32-3) in the third-place match at noon Saturday. “Davies played incredible,” Packers head coach Kelsey Titus said. “They put a lot of pressure on us throughout the match and that was it.” Titus said the message to her team heading into the third-place match on Saturday is simple. One more game. “We get to play,” Titus said. “We get to play another day and a lot of teams are wishing they could be here right now. It’s just that we get one more chance to be together with this group.” The Packers’ star senior hitter, Ellee McIntosh, finished with 13 kills Friday a number that could be considered low for the North Dakota commit. Just as it was in the previous three matches between West Fargo and Davies this season, it was a battle of star power between McIntosh and Passanante and each team trying to limit their contributions. “I think that was kind of our goal was to put the pressure on (McIntosh) a little bit more,” Oliver said. “They put the pressure on (Passanante) which was understandable, but our other hitters also stepped up in big ways and our block also stepped up in huge ways.” Bolton led the Davies block party with five while junior middle hitter Jaelynn Jackson notched three. Senior setter Quinn Skari added six kills and an ace for the Davies offense while senior libero Katelyn Krenz recorded 18 digs defensively for the Eagles. Following McIntosh in kills for West Fargo was sophomore outside hitter Mya Glandt with eight to go with three aces. Defensively, senior libero Raina Chwialkowski recorded 24 digs for the Packers while senior middle hitter Audra Schroeder had three blocks.
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