Written by Emma Spear
The Dogs have been battling and are halfway through the 2026 season.
The volleyball team traveled to Eagle Grove on Thursday, September 10th, and played Eagle Grove and St. Eds, winning both games. During the St. Eds game, sophomore Kate Limbaugh reached 500 kills in her high school career.
The Bulldogs took on Ankeny Christian, Aplington-Parkersburg, Bondurant-Farrar, and Osage on Saturday, September 12th. The girls went 0-4 for the day. Ankeny Christian won both sets 21-13. The Dogs had a hard battle against Aplington-Parkersburg, ending up 21-16 and 24-22. For their 3rd game of the day, they played Bondurant-Farrar and lost both sets 21-19 and 21-11. The Bulldogs’ last game of the day was against Osage. The Dogs came out the gate ready to go, winning 21-18, then fell 21-18 and 15-9. Osage ended up winning two sets to one. In the game against Osage Limbaugh had 11 digs, and Hayden McLaughlin had one block.
The volleyball girls traveled to Storm Lake on Tuesday, September 15th. They won in 3 sets, 25-11, 25-13, and 25-10. Makenna Elsbecker led with 19 assists and Limbaugh had 7 kills. McLaughlin says, “We have a fun time playing with each other.” It showed that they were having fun on and off the court at Storm Lake.
On Thursday, September 17th, the Bulldogs traveled to Webster City. Algona won the first two sets 25-15, 25-14. They lost the third set 25-19 then the girls won the last game 25-14. Taylor VanOtterloo was leading in assists with 16 and Limbaugh had 15 digs.
On Saturday, September 19th, the girls went to Waukee and played Hinton, Indianola, Ankeny, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, and Sioux City North. They went 1-3 on the day. Their first game was against Hinton and they lost both sets 21-4 and 21-13. The Dogs played Indianola for their second game and they fought hard. They lost the first set 21-16, then they won 22-20, and they lost the last set 15-7. For their third game of the day they played Ankeny and they lost both sets, 21-11 and 21-15. They played Sergeant Bluff-Luton and won the first set 21-17, lost the last two sets 21-16 and 15-12. The last game of the day they played Sioux City North and won both sets 25-20 and 25-13. During the last game Gabby Venteicher had 10 digs, and VanOtterloo had 12 assists.
On Tuesday, September 22nd, the girls hosted Spirit Lake at 7:00pm, for their 3rd home game this year. They lost the first set 25-18, won the second set 25-14, and lost the last two sets 25-19 and 25-20.
Thursday, the 24th, they traveled to Iowa Falls-Alden and played a quad. They played Iowa Falls first at 7:15pm then Clarion-Goldfield-Dows at 8:25pm.
Next week, on October 1st, the Dogs host Humboldt @ 7:00pm for their last home game of the year and senior night.