Published: October 16, 2009 01:15 am      

Blue Devils; Storm Volley for the Cure

BISMARCK — Without a roster in hand or the ability to recognize the individual athletes, the pink Volley for the Cure shirts that filled each side of the court in Tuesday’s Vermilion Valley Conference volleyball match between the Bismarck-Henning Blue Devils and the Salt Fork Storm might have left fans with the impression that the Blue Devils were hosting a rather intense inter-squad scrimmage.

Ultimately, while the two programs fought their way through a three-set match, they did, in fact, team up to help raise funds for a battle that impacts nearly everyone.

“We really like this night. The Sharon Bassett Breast Cancer Foundation is a great foundation for Vermilion County women because it is a local foundation,” Bismarck-Henning coach Susan Kentner said. “We’ve been doing this now for four years, between the junior high and high school — two years now with the conference involved.

“I can’t tell you how many people have come up to some of us coaches and said ‘Thank you.’ October, of course, is Breast Cancer Month. Getting the word out about awareness and just being able to help women in Vermilion County itself has been a real rewarding experience.

“This is just a great opportunity and a great cause to give for. There’s no one that hasn’t been touched by cancer, whether it is a family member or friend. To be able to do something like this is very rewarding.”

Bismarck-Henning High School alone raised nearly $800 through the sale of Volley for the Cure t-shirts, a raffle, bake sale and additional donations.

Bismarck-Henning’s contributions will be combined with the funds raised from other area schools and donated to the Sharon S. Bassett Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Blue Devils won Thursday’s match (20-25, 25-11, 25-14), extending its winning streak to 13, but being a part of the annual event was enough to, at times, make the VVC match seem secondary.

“That means a lot more. We focused more on earning money than we did anything,” Blue Devils captain Courtney Reinken said. “We were focused on the game, but we were more focused on helping others than anything.

“I think we did really good fundraising. We earned about $250 just on our cookie and brownie sale. It just makes us feel good all around. Winning the game is great, but we helped out the community.”

Reinken had a match-high 13 kills working in tandem with Elyse Lippert who put up 15 assists. And after the Blue Devils fell in the first set, they rallied behind the serving of Shelby Hines who accounted for 16 service points and five aces, and Alexis Walsh’s six blocks.

“You get caught up in the hype of the night and the games and trying to make it a really nice event for the fans,” Kentner said. “Sometimes you can lose your focus (on the match) when it happens. But I give a lot of credit to our team for pulling back into it. In the second and third games, we took care of business.”

The Storm carried the momentum of the win into the beginning of the second set, but Hines served for eight consecutive points to give the Blue Devils the lead and control of the match. Bismarck-Henning never trailed through the final two sets after taking a 3-2 lead in the second.

Both teams will be competing in this weekend’s Vermilion County tournament set to begin Saturday morning at Westville High School.

“We were just trying to get a feel of how they play,” Salt Fork’s Maddison Stutsman said. “We were just trying to get ready for County this weekend.

“We expected them to be pretty solid. They’ve lost two games. We just came out here to try our hardest.”

The Blue Devils are scheduled to begin this weekend’s tournament against Georgetown-Ridge Farm while the Storm will face Milford.